WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 




TURKISH WOMEN 



WOMEN 
UNDER POLYGAMY 



BY 

WALTER M. GALLICHAN 



With Numerous Illustrations 



NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1915 



HQasi 



Copyright, 1915 
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 



MAR I i 1915 
©CU397058 






PREFACE 



The reader of the American Edition of this in- 
teresting book will be inclined to ask: "What 
about the Mormons?" The Latter-day Saints ex- 
ist in our midst as the only case of the practice 
of polygamy, after the laboratory method, among 
a Western people. The account here given of 
Mormon polygamy is necessarily brief. It may, 
therefore, be well to supplement it with a fuller 
account of these "Saints" of whom Mark Twain 
once observed: "Their creed is singular, and 
their wives plural." 

The Mormons themselves have furnished an 
answer to what they complained to be the "un- 
accountable problem" why the Latter-day Saints 
are "numbered with Indians, Hottentots, Arabs, 
Turks, Wolverines, and horned cattle." That 
answer was borrowed from the enemy; it was that 
"the conduct of Joseph Smith and the other leaders 
is such that no community of white men can tol- 
erate." The conduct the "gentiles" complained 
of was, of course, the practice of polygamy. This 
went through three stages: It was first forbid- 



vi PREFACE 

den; next it was practiced before it was preached; 
lastly it was made not only permissive, but ob- 
ligatory among the faithful. The documents in 
the case are significant. The Book of Mormon 
expressly forbade the practice: "Behold, David 
and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, 
which thing was abominable before me, saith the 
Lord . . . Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not 
suffer that this people shall do like unto them of 
old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and 
hearken to the word of the Lord; for there shall 
not any man among you hath save it be' one wife; 
and concubines he shall have none; for I, the Lord 
God, delighteth in the chastity of women. And 
whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus 
saith the Lord of Hosts." 

As if the prohibition of the "Gold Bible" was 
not enough, the Book of Commandments forbade 
the same practices. But the third of the canonical 
books, which in order of time and authority super- 
seded the first two, contains the famous "Revela- 
tion on the Eternity of the Marriage Covenant, 
including Plurality of Wives, given through 
Joseph, the Seer." The salient passages of this 
document are there: "As pertaining to the law 
of the priesthood, if any man espouse a virgin, and 
desire to espouse another, and the first give her con- 
sent; and if he espouse the second, and they are 



PREFACE vii 

virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then 
is he justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they 
are given with him; he cannot commit adultery 
with that that belongeth unto him and to no one 
else. And if he have ten virgins given unto him 
by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they 
belong to him, and they are given unto him, there- 
fore is he justified." 

It was easy to justify polygamy on paper. It 
was much harder in reality. But the thing was 
done. First the Seer's wife had to be appeased. 
This was accomplished by a special section in the 
revelation which ran: "Verily, thus saith the 
Lord unto you, my servant Joseph ... let mine 
handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that 
have been given unto my servant Joseph, and which 
are pure and virtuous before me. . . ." The 
same procedure was adopted with other women. 
Thus the confession of Lucy Kimball runs: 
"President Joseph Smith sought an interview with 
me, and said : 'I have a message for you. I have 
been commanded of God to take another wife and 
you are the woman.' My astonishment knew no 
bounds. . . . The prophet discerned my sorrow. 
He saw how unhappy I was . . . and said : 'Al- 
though I cannot, under existing circumstances, ac- 
knowledge you as my wife, the time is near when 
we will go beyond the Rocky Mountains and then 



viii PREFACE 

you will be acknowledged and honored as my wife 
... I will give you until to-morrow to decide 
this matter. If you reject this message the gate 
will be closed forever against you.' " 

The result of this "command" can be imagined. 
The woman's surrender was due, as the author 
suggests, and as I have pointed out in my 
book, "The Founder of Mormonism," to the 
hypnotism of a positive personality. The same 
thing happened with the men. Eliza Snow tells 
how she requested her "husband," the prophet, 
to open to her brother, the subject of her 
plural or "celestial" marriage. "A favorable op- 
portunity soon presented, and, seated together on 
the bank of the Mississippi River, they had a most 
interesting conversation. The prophet afterward 
told me he found that my brother's mind had been 
previously enlightened on the subject in question. 
That Comforter which Jesus says shall 'lead into 
all truth' had penetrated his understanding, and, 
while in England, had given him an intimation 
of what at that time was to many a secret. This 
was the result of living near the Lord." 

So much for the personal side in the origin of 
Mormon polygamy. The doctrinal is equally 
curious. The Book of Mormon, as we have seen, 
expressly reprehended the conduct of the Old 
Testament worthies. But the New Testament 



PREFACE ix 

was different. As one of the early leaders, Orson 
Hyde, explained : "It will be borne in mind that, 
once on a time, there was a marriage in Cana of 
Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transac- 
tion it will be discovered that no less a person than 
Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he 
was never married, his intimacy with Mary and 
Martha, and the other Mary also, whom Jesus 
loved, must have been highly unbecoming and 
improper, to say the best of it. I will ven- 
ture to say that, if Jesus Christ was now to 
pass through the most pious countries in Christen- 
dom, with a train of women such as used 
to follow him, fondling about him, combing his 
hair, anointing him with precious ointments, 
washing his feet with tears and wiping them with 
the hair of their heads, and unmarried, or even 
married, he would be mobbed, tarred and 
feathered, and rode, not on an ass, but on a rail. 
. . . Did he multiply, and did he see his seed? 
Did he honor his Father's law by complying with 
it, or did he not? Others may do as they like, 
but I will not charge our Saviour with neglect or 
transgression in this or any other duty." 

But there was more to the "mystery" of spiritual 
wifeism than religious sanctions of old. There is 
a new metaphysics of Mormonism, a philosophical 
system which presents the very reasons for the 



x PREFACE 

faith. The spiritual wife doctrine, according to 
one of the first believers, was this: "Joseph had a 
revelation from God that there were a number of 
spirits to be born into the world before their ex- 
altation in the next; that Christ would not come 
until all these spirits received or entered their 
'tabernacles of clay;' that these spirits were hover- 
ing around the world, and at the doors of bad 
houses, watching a chance of getting into their 
tabernacles; that God had provided an honorable 
way for them to come forth — that was, by the 
Elders in Israel sealing up virtuous women; and 
as there was no provision made for woman in the 
Scriptures, their only chance of heaven was to be 
sealed up to some Elder for time and eternity, and 
be a star in his crown forever; that those who were 
the cause of bringing forth these spirits would re- 
ceive a reward, the ratio of which reward should 
be the greater or less according to the number they 
were the means of bringing forth." This raw pres- 
entation of pluralism has since been worked up 
into the finished product of regular church doc- 
trine: "Celestial" marriage, according to the 
orthodox Saints, opens the way for all women who 
wish to marry to fill the measure of their creation. 
. . . It shows how the innumerable creations of 
God [i. e., this world and other planets] may be 
peopled with intelligences . . . woman without 



PREFACE xi 

man and man without woman cannot be saved. 
The larger the progeny a man has, the greater will 
be the fulness of his eternal glory. 

With the theory of Mormon polygamy before us, 
it may be interesting to consider its application. 
The casual visitor in Utah may, at first glance, 
consider it "one of the finest communities of agri- 
culturists and artisans that the world has seen." 
But to what is that prosperity due? The Saints 
claim that their organisation and institutions made 
the desert to blossom like the rose. But certain 
economists have pointed out other facts. First it 
is pointed out that the State of Deseret would have 
collapsed unless it had been for the influx of Forty 
Niners, the gold seekers who left much money 
behind them as they passed through on their way 
to California. Next, it was only at the beginning 
that the communistic system of Mormondom at 
first helped the infant colony, especially in its strife 
against the federal government. To utilise a 
phrase of Franklin's: "If they had not hung to- 
gether, they would have hung separately." But 
at present the communistic system of the Saints 
cannot compare in efficiency with the free competi- 
tive system of the Gentiles. The Zion Coopera- 
tive Mercantile Establishment, for example, does 
not offer as low prices as the establishment next 
door. Moreover, the system of tithing, instead of 



xii PREFACE 

resulting in an accumulation of capital, for the 
benefit of the contributors, has been wasted in keep- 
ing up the harems of the leaders. In short, what 
was gained in cooperation was lost in cohabitation. 
This judgment does not apply, of necessity, to the 
rural districts. As with Mohammedanism so 
with Mormonism, polygamy is an expensive lux- 
ury, to be afforded only by rich dignitaries in the 
city. But in the country it is different. There it 
is cheaper to marry a helpmate than to hire "help." 

This perhaps explains why, as the author re- 
marks, polygamy has "fallen into disrepute among 
Mormons themselves." The problem of the hard 
lot of the farmer's wife is intensified under plural- 
ism. The rural household drudge longs to live in 
the city. And there, among the Gentiles, she sees 
that the wife of the monogamist is not only no 
servant, but an equal partner in the domestic es- 
tablishment. It is this exclusive matrimonial 
monopoly, instead of cooperative cohabitation, that 
makes the Mormon "spiritual" wife envious of her 
Gentile neighbor. 

As for the claim that polygamy drives out pros- 
titution, it depends how one considers the subject, 
from the individual or the collective point of view. 
One would hesitate to quote exactly what was 
said by a daughter of Brigham Young on the wit- 
ness stand. It was to the effect that if Salt Lake 



PREFACE xiii 

City were roofed over, it could hardly be called 
a house of the Lord. On this topic the author 
might well have added a middle term to his discus- 
sion. Polygamy may have driven out prostitu- 
tion, but it has not driven out promiscuity. 
There was at one time a literal "stock" exchange 
among the "cows" and "heifers" as one of the 
church presidents so delicately referred to the 
wives and daughters. When divorce could be ob- 
tained for so low a fee as ten dollars, it is hard to 
distinguish between this form of progressive 
polygamy and plain prostitution. 

As to the final claim that the Saints have 
abandoned the "evils of seduction" the truth of 
the matter is quite the contrary. In the Mormon 
public schools coeducation and cohabitation are 
not so far apart. Add to the sexual curiosity of 
adolescence the teaching of the "mysteries" of "seal- 
ing" and the effect can be left to the imagination. 

WOODBRIDGE RlLEY. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Origin of the Harem i 

II The Ancient Harem 16 

III Mohammed and Polygamy 29 

IV Ancient Jewish Polygamy 42 

V The Women of India 48 

VI The Cult of Woman and Love .... 64 

VII The Zenana 80 

VIII Hindu Women and the Sacred Books . . 91 

IX The Disabilities of Indian Women ... 97 

X Mohammedan Women in India . . . .115 

-\ XI Marriage in Burma . 121 

XII Zenana Missions 131 

XIII The Imperial Harem in Turkey .... 135 

XIV Polygamy in Turkish Society 145 

XV Feminism in Turkey 160 

XVI The Harem in Modern Egypt 171 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII Women in the Harem 180 

XVIII The Guardians of the Seraglio . . .193 

XIX Harem Intrigues and Scandals . . . 203 

XX The Arabian Concubinate 211 

XXI The Women of Persia 219 

XXII The Persian Anderun 232 

XXIII Afghan Marriage 246 

XXIV Polygyny in Japan 250 

XXV MORROCO AND TUNIS 265 

XXVI Polygamy Among Modern Africans . . 272 
XXVII Chinese Marriage and Polygyny . . .281 

XXVIII Western Polygyny 291 

XXIX Mormon Polygamy 309 

XXX Monogamy and Polygyny 324 

Bibliography . . . 345 

Index ........... 353 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Turkish Women Frontispiece- 

A Daughter of Egypt Facing Page 29 ' 

Girls of Northern India ..... " " 48 ■• 

Burmese Ladies at a Garden Party . . " " 121 

In the Harem. Typical Costumes of 

Constantinople " "140 

Turkish Bride in Wedding Dress ... " " i6ck 

Egyptian Girls at Thebes " " 184* 

An Arab Woman " "212 

Georgian Dancing Girls " " 220^ 

Persian Girl of Upper Class . ' M " " 238 

Japanese Girls in Bamboo Avenue " " 254' 

A Geisha Girl " " 262 

Moorish Women, Algiers ....." " 270^ 

King Wambugoo, East Africa, and His 

Sixteen Wives " " 276*' 

A Chinese Beauty ....... " "286 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 



CHAPTER I 

THE ORIGIN OF THE HAREM 

AMONG the Western nations there are, no doubt, 
many unreflective and incurious persons who re- 
gard the vast institution of polygamy merely as a 
part of the faith and practice of the ancient He- 
brews, the Hindus, and the Mohammedans of 
former and modern times. The custom is of far 
greater antiquity than the older religion of the 
Jews and the birth of Islam. For the origin of 
polygamy we must seek among the animal ancestry 
of mankind. 

Many male birds and mammals are instances of 
that instinct of securing a plurality of sexual com- 
panions, which in the view of Voltaire, Schopen- 
hauer, and other philosophers, is the natural im- 
pulse of mankind. Leaving for the present, the 
consideration of Schopenhauer's assumption that 
every normal man desires more than one wife, let 
us glance for a moment at the sex-relations of the 
animals nearest to ourselves in the evolutionary 
chain. 

In the Primates, "the lords of the animal world," 
we find that the Simiae, or true apes, possess or- 



2 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

gans and nervous systems very closely resembling 
those of the human being. They have also human- 
like desires and appetites. Yet among the 
monkeys we note that polygamy is not the invari- 
able form of union; for some of the species are 
rigidly monogamous. And so with birds, which 
are, generally speaking, excellent examples of fidel- 
ity to a single partner after courtship and pairing. 

The stag has his group of hinds ; but the black- 
bird is supposed to pair with one hen for life, The 
hawks are monogamous. There is sufficient evi- 
dence that the polygamous instinct is not general 
among animals. The farmyard cock and the male 
grouse are polygamists, but these are exceptions 
among birds. 

Although most of the carnivorous animals are 
monogamous, the lion sometimes secures more than 
one mate. The sea-lions are extremely polyg- 
amous, and so are some of the seals. 

Among birds the polygamic instinct is strongly 
instanced in the ruffs. The polygamous birds are 
almost invariably addicted to conflict, and the 
males are usually bigger and more gaily-feathered 
than the females. Stags, especially among the 
red-deer, are very aggressive towards other males, 
and sometimes their battles end fatally. A young 
stag will fight for as many hinds as he can obtain; 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 3 

and the group of females remains his exclusive 
possession until wrested from him by a more pow- 
erful antagonist. 

In the marriage customs of mankind we trace, as 
Goethe said, "the beginning and the end of all cul- 
ture." The history of civilisation is chiefly the 
history of the loves of men and women. We must 
inquire, therefore, into the origin of the widespread 
polygamy and concubinage, practised from the 
earliest period of civilisation, as dispassionately as 
we examine the source of monogamy. 

Plurality of wives has been denounced by 
Schlegel and numerous Western historians and 
moralists as abominable and unnatural. Are we 
justified in accepting such condemnation without 
careful examination of the system? There is not a 
stable form of sexual morality for all times and all 
peoples. Sheer biological necessity, quite apart 
from ethical ideas, has chiefly determined human 
sexual relationships throughout all the stages of 
man's development. 

Polygamous marriage in ancient communities 
grew in some instances through a preponderance in 
the number of women, just as polyandry arose 
through a preponderance of men in the tribe. 
This is not the sole and the invariable cause of 
either kind of marriage, but an excess of one sex 



4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

over the other is, no doubt, a factor. In the West- 
ern nations of to-day, where the female population 
exceeds the male, there is no sanctioned and recog- 
nised polygamy. But there is an irregular form of 
polyandry exampled in the universal practice of 
prostitution, and more or less open concubinage. 

No doubt, the dominant primitive man re- 
sembled the gorilla in his desire to possess more 
than one wife. The craving for variety in sexual 
unions is probably as deep-rooted in human nature 
as the desire to subdue enemies and to reap the 
wealth of conquest. This impulse of sexual 
variety is checked and thwarted by various means 
among masses of the people of the West. 

Nevertheless, in spite of religious inhibitions, 
public opinion, psychic refinement in sexual ap- 
petite, poverty, and other obstacles to the gratifica- 
tion of polygamous yearnings, there are many in- 
stances of the expression of this innate and imperi- 
ous passion for variety. Christianity and Chris- 
tian legislation have not succeeded in annihilating 
the wandering sexual longings of those men and 
women in whom basic and pristine emotions sur- 
vive. 

"What is the meaning of maintaining monog- 
amy?" wrote James Hinton. "Do you call Eng- 
lish life monogamous?" 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 5 

Our monogamy is constantly varied by polygyny, 
or pseudo-polygamy, lacking the sanctions and re- 
sponsibilities of Mohammedan plurality. Side by 
side with monogamic marriage, concubinage has 
always existed. The system was plainly recog- 
nised in the ancient laws of Wales. In the Thir- 
teenth Century, in England, the mistress, "the 
concubina legitima," was often the companion of 
the wife. There are, indeed, many facts in early 
Christian history that show an ecclesiastic recogni- 
tion of the tendency of men towards variety or 
polygyny. 

Even in Puritan times there was a measure of 
toleration for those who could not remain conti- 
nent with one woman ; for we find a writer, in 1658, 
asserting that it may be in "every way consistent 
with the principles of a man fearing God and lov- 
ing holiness to have more women than one to his 
proper use." 

The aggressive, virile man, who craved plural- 
ity of wives, or sexual consorts, was also undoubt- 
edly a lover of the power yielded by possessions. 
When he stole or purchased women for his harem, 
he increased his prestige and dignity in the tribe. 
The passion of acquisitiveness is one of the sources 
of modern polygamy; and it is frequently this im- 
pulse, in England and America, which accounts for 



6 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the lavish expenditure upon the maintenance of a 
mistress. 

Many men are covetous and greedy by nature. 
They must own costly things. The complete own- 
ership of a beautiful woman, or of more than one 
woman, affords them intense pleasure, apart from 
amatory reasons. This lust for the exclusive own- 
ership of several women dominated the masterful 
barbarian, and was one of the influences in the in- 
stitution of the primitive harem system. 

The typical polygamous man might be described 
as highly masculine in all his secondary sexual 
characteristics. He is predominantly male in a 
love of authority and of ownership. His instinct 
is for fighting and subjugation. The early polyg- 
amous nations were chiefly martial. 1 The men 
delighted in warfare, extension of territory, and 
capture of women, slaves, and spoil. 

During this militant period, women conducted 
those peaceful and pastoral industries which are 
at the basis of civilisation. They tamed and 
domesticated animals; they wove the garments, 
prepared and cooked the food, and tended the in- 
fants and the sick. The warrior devoted to Mars 
returned triumphant from battle to reap his re- 

1 There are modern exceptions, such as the Iroquois Indians, 
who are monogamic. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 7 

ward in the tenderness and caresses of woman. 

Wherever maleness predominates in the man, we 
shall find the polygamous form of marriage among 
the ancient races as in the primitive communities 
of to-day. When the necessity for fighting and 
hunting begins to wane, men occupy themselves, 
more often, with the industries assigned hitherto to 
the women of the tribe ; and certain of the marked 
male characteristics undergo a change. At this 
stage the position of women is usually raised, and 
by gradual stages she often becomes supreme in 
power, as in the Matriarchal Period. 

With a cessation of the dangers of combat and 
the chase, more men survive in the community; 
and there is a tendency towards equalisation in the 
number of males and females. Celibacy being ab- 
horred as contrary to nature, every man demands 
his right to a wife, and every woman claims a hus- 
band. 

In cases where the women are more numerous 
than the men, among existing primitive people, the 
practice of polygamy is regarded as a natural ne- 
cessity. The Esquimaux man of the present day, 
being a fisher and hunter, is continually at contest 
with the forces of nature, and therefore subject 
to mortality from accidents. Many Esquimaux 
fishermen lose their lives by drowning, and in con- 



8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

flict with animals. The widows are not left to 
languish in celibacy. A man is always willing to 
take the husbandless woman into his own home, 
and to adopt her children; an arrangement which 
is never resented by his first wife. 

Polygamy arose naturally in the barbarous times, 
when it became imperative to capture women for 
the propagation of offspring and the maintenance 
of the group. If the conquering side bore off a 
large number of women, each man was able to se- 
cure three or four wives. 

Among the semi-civilised communities of our 
time, polygyny is far commoner than polygamy. 
The secondary wife, or concubine, is found 
amongst the Fijians, the tribes of the Pacific Coast, 
in Madagascar, in Uganda, Ashanti, and other 
parts of Africa. 

Polygyny is often confused with polygamy ; but 
the distinction is important. A devout Mohamme- 
dan, the husband of not more than four wives, duly 
legitimatized, is, strictly speaking, a polygamist; 
but the Chinese mandarin — with a legal wife 
chosen for him by his parents — who takes concu- 
bines or inferior wives into his household, may be 
called a polygynist. 

This form of sex union in its most primitive ex- 
ample occurs when several sisters are married to 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 9 

the same man. An instance of such a marriage is 
to be found in the story of Jacob and Rachel and 
Leah. 

Wake, in his painstaking survey of early mar- 
riage customs, states that, in the oldest form of 
polygyny, all of a man's wives possessed equal 
rights. In another form there is a favourite, or 
principal, wife, or wives, and inferior wives, who 
are sometimes legal wives, and at others serf-wives 
or concubines. 

An economic cause of polygamy must not be 
overlooked. When the dominant males of a com- 
munity realised that the men of another group were 
willing to barter for women instead of fighting for 
them, they began to trade in their daughters and 
other women relatives. 

In the uncultured nations that bartered their 
womenfolk, a woman was regarded merely as an 
article of exchange or sale. Later, however, the 
purchased woman secures certain important rights. 
She is not sold body and soul to her purchaser; and 
a sum of money is settled upon her for sole personal 
use. 

There exists among the Arabs of the White Nile 
district a rule giving to the purchased girl full 
liberty on two days of each week. As a wife she is 
only at the behest of her lord on four days out of 



io WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the seven. Upon the other day she may even re- 
gard herself as free from married fidelity. 

Besides their sexual attraction, several wives 
were valuable to a man in the hunting and battle 
days. The Sioux Indian is often assisted by his 
wives in the pursuit of wild animals for food or 
skins. Women are regarded as business assets. 
With their help a man can increase his possessions. 
The Sioux with but one wife remains poor. The 
housewife cannot leave the cooking and the care 
of her family for the chase, whereas the fortunate 
owner of several wives has companions for his 
hunting. 

In Australia, according to Howitt, the natives of 
the interior obtain as many wives as they can af- 
ford, not only from passional ardour, but because 
they are of use to them. A husband can lend 
his wives for a gift to young men who are un- 
married, and by this means he may acquire pro- 
perty. 

The property value of women in primitive so- 
cieties undoubtedly encouraged plurality of wives. 
A man was esteemed in proportion to the number 
of women with whom he cohabited. 

Wife purchase is not solely the custom of savage 
people, nor of living Oriental races. It was a 
practice of the early English and of all the Teu- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY n 

tonic people; and the wedding-ring survives as a 
symbol of a sale-contract. 

Havelock Ellis, quoting from the "Annual Reg- 
ister," for 1767, says that an English bricklayer's 
labourer sold a woman to a fellow workman "for 
a quarter guinea and a gallon of beer." We may 
suppose that the vendor subsequently regretted this 
transaction; for we read that the woman soon after 
inherited "£200 and some plate, left her by a de- 
ceased uncle in Devonshire." 

The masculine desire for more than one wife 
(polygamy) has been more often expressed than 
the feminine desire for more than one husband 
(polyandry). On the whole, it is stated by some 
authorities on the marriage customs of mankind, 
that, of the two systems, polygamy is the better for 
the race. Polygamy served a racial end in early 
communities, inasmuch as it enabled the most 
forceful men to beget the largest number of off- 
spring, and so to perpetuate vigorous qualities. 
Everywhere plurality of wives has been more the 
mark of a man's success and power in the com- 
munity than an expression of male sensuality. 
The great harem represents a man's dignity and 
position in society, while its maintenance involves 
a number of strict legal and social obligations to- 
wards wives and concubines. 



12 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

As we shall see, primitive polygamy arose in 
many tribes through the labour potentiality of 
women. The chief with the largest number of 
wives commanded the largest number of assistants 
in hunting and industry, and sometimes in war- 
fare. The source of polygamy is not invariably 
amatory; the system has been often forced upon 
the community through a scarcity of males. In 
the fighting and hunting age many men died in 
combat and the chase. But the preponderance of 
females has not always been brought about by the 
high mortality among males. There are races that 
tend to reproduce more females than males, or 
more males than females. Whenever the balance 
of the sexes is disturbed, plurality of males natu- 
rally results. 

The chief cause of polygamy in the past was 
economic. Moral reprobation of the practice has 
often been based on the assumption that polyga- 
mous marriage grew solely from the "vices" or the 
sexual acquisitiveness of men. This is not proved 
in the case of primitive polygamy. And though 
there is ample testimony showing that savage races 
are far less incontinent than highly civilised peo- 
ple, it is rarely that celibacy exists among them. 
Polygamy provides mates for the superfluous 
women of the group. Polyandry supplies part- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 13 

ners for the redundant men. Celibacy is a state 
regarded by primitive people as unnatural, or as 
contrary to moral law, and according to such a con- 
ception, avoidance of celibacy must be provided 
for by an adjustment of the marriage customs. 

C. N. Starcke finds in the desire of primitive 
fathers to own many children one of the chief in- 
centives to polygamous marriage. 2 Naturally, 
the man with the largest number of wives will 
possess the most numerous progeny. The savage 
with a goodly number of children owns a retinue of 
companions for the chase and of workers in the 
fields and the home. 

The craving for dignity, power and riches is 
clearly one of the main sources of polygamy and 
concubinage. It has been reiterated again and 
again by ill-informed writers that "men's lust" 
alone is the cause of plural marriage. Investiga- 
tion proves, however, that it is a minor factor, at 
any rate in polygamy of early ages and among ex- 
isting primitive tribes. 

It is important to note that monogamy has al- 
ways accompanied polygamy. Obviously, even 
when women have been redundant, there has not 
existed a sufficient number to enable each man to 
possess several wives. Polygamy is the luxury of 

2 "The Primitive Family." 



H WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the prosperous, and it stands for property-owner- 
ship. The poor man is bound to practise monog- 
amy. Among some African tribes, the greed of 
the king and the chiefs, in the acquisition of large 
harems, actually condemns a part of the male pop- 
ulation to celibacy. 

" Polygamy," says Starcke, "can never have been 
the normal condition of a tribe, since it would have 
involved the existence of twice as many women as 
men." 

It is often assumed that women in polygamic 
countries are the mere slaves of men, and that they 
are forced into plural marriage. This is scarcely 
the truth. Women as well as men have deter- 
mined the forms of the sexual relationships in com- 
munities. Among animals living in polygamy, 
compulsion on the part of the males is very seldom 
apparent in their conduct towards the females. 
The sea lions are a marked exception. But the 
stag and other polygamous animals woo and incite 
rather than impel the hinds to join his troop. It 
has been noticed generally by naturalists and hunt- 
ers that the females voluntarily attach themselves 
to the powerful younger males owning several 
mates. 

As there is not a wide difference between the in- 
stincts of the animal and that of primitive men, it 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 15 

seems beyond question that the great bulk of the 
women of the tribe do not disapprove of polyga- 
mous marriage. Doubtless there are a few malcon- 
tents, but the mass of the women approve the sys- 
tem. There is plenty of evidence in this matter. 
Dr. Livingstone is by no means the only traveller 
who has heard primitive women declare that they 
would not live in a country where a man is only 
permitted to marry one woman. 



CHAPTER II 

THE ANCIENT HAREM 
I. BABYLON 

Among the ruins of the noble palaces of Assyria 
were carvings depicting the leading of men and 
women captives into the cities. At Khorsabad one 
of these interesting relics showed plainly the fig- 
ures of women and eunuchs. "For lo! our fathers 
have fallen by the sword^ and our sons and our 
daughters and our wives are in captivity." 

That the harem existed in Nineveh is proved by 
the testimony of its mural sculpture and the inscrip- 
tions deciphered by Colonel Rawlinson and other 
investigators. This earliest recorded empire came 
to an end with the great Sardanapalus, probably in 
820 B.C., who, upon the sacking of the city by 
Arbaces, concealed himself in his palace, and set 
fire to it. With his concubines, eunuchs and slaves 
he perished; and the Assyrian Empire of Babylon 
and Nineveh were formed after his death. 

Herodotus tells us that the seat of the govern- 
ment, after the downfall of Nineveh, was trans- 
ferred to Babylon. The city stood in a wide plain, 

covering a great area, and in its extent and the 

16 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 17 

beauty of its architecture, Babylon surpassed all 
other cities. A moat and a high wall encompassed 
the city. In the wall, at the end of each street, 
were gates of brass. The royal residence and 
harem stood in the midst of a fortified enclosure. 

The temple of Jupiter Belus was an immense 
square building. In one of the towers was a 
temple, wherein no mortal might pass the night ex- 
cept a native woman chosen by the deity from the 
whole nation. This priestess, who was a vestal, 
was said to be visited by the god himself. 

In Babylon women were queens and priestesses, 
and held other exalted positions. The goddess 
was more honoured than the god. Women owned 
property and had equal rights with men. The 
Queen Semiramis had immense sway; and greater 
still was the power of Nitocris, who, according to 
Herodotus, enlarged and fortified the city and 
showed a wonderful capacity for engineering and 
the planning of canals and reservoirs. 

By the famous Code of Hammurabi, marriage 
by purchase and polygamy were permitted in 
Babylon. But wives could not be divorced at the 
caprice of the husband, and the marriage dowry 
given to the bride by her father could not be taken 
from her even though she were divorced. Con- 
cubinage was allowed by the Code, the secondary 



18 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

wife, or concubine, ranking as subordinate to the 
chief wife. 

If a man desired a maiden for his wife, he ap- 
proached her parents first, and the prospective 
bride had no voice in the contract. Herodotus 
describes a custom of the Babylonian villagers that 
recalls the old-time hiring fairs of England. 
Once a year all the girls of a marriageable age were 
collected together in an open space, surrounded by 
a crowd of men. One by one the damsels were put 
up for sale, the more comely being first offered to 
the bidders. The wealthiest men naturally se- 
cured the most beautiful wives. After the disposal 
of the handsome women, their plain sisters were 
sold by auction; but in this case they were given to 
poor men, and the successful bidder w T as one who 
would accept the lowest dowry. This sum was 
paid out of the sale of the beautiful maidens. 

Until the buyer of a girl had given full assurance 
that he would marry her legally, he was not per- 
mitted to carry her away. In the event of dis- 
harmony in the married life, the wife could be 
freed from the tie by the return of the purchase 
money. "Such," writes the historian, "was their 
best institution. It has not, however, continued to 
exist." At a later period, after defeats in warfare 
and impoverishment, the poorer classes resorted 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 19 

to the selling of their daughters in prostitution. 

Herodotus refers to the sacred prostitution of 
women at the Temple of Mylitta, the Venus of the 
Babylonians. Generally speaking, prostitution is 
comparatively uncommon in polygamous coun- 
tries, and its introduction often arises from the 
coming of strangers from the monogamous nations. 
The religious rite observed in the Babylonian 
temple was by no means a purely commercial trans- 
action. Once in her life every woman in ancient 
Babylon was compelled to sit in the Temple of 
Mylitta until chosen by a man. The wealthy 
women came in carriages attended by their serv- 
ants. The women sat in a row, and the men passed 
up and down. When a man had made his choice, 
he threw a piece of silver into the woman's lap, and 
she was bound to accompany him. After "absolv- 
ing herself from her obligation to the goddess," 
the woman returned home, and was regarded as 
chaste. The plain-featured and the deformed 
were often obliged to remain in the temple for a 
considerable time. "Some wait for a space of 
three or four years," relates Herodotus. The 
money given to the women was devoted to the tem- 
ple of the goddess. 

Herodotus describes this custom of the Babylon- 
ians as "most disgraceful." But he does not seem 



20 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

to have inquired into its origin and full signifi- 
cance. It was the fervent belief of many ancient 
societies that procreation is sacred, and a tribute 
to the gods. They believed also that the rite in 
the temple favoured the fertility of women. 

Professor Frazer, in "Adonis, Attis, Osiris," 
says : "We may conclude that a great mother god- 
dess, the personification of all the reproductive en- 
ergies of nature, was worshipped under different 
names, but with a substantial similarity of myth 
and ritual by many peoples of Western Asia; that 
associated with her was a lover, or rather series of 
lovers, divine yet mortal, with whom she mated 
year by year, their commerce being deemed essen- 
tial to the propagation of animals and plants, each 
in their several kind; and further that the fabulous 
union of the divine pair was simulated, and, as it 
were, multiplied on earth by the real, though tem- 
porary union of the human sexes at the sanctuary 
of the goddess for the sake of thereby ensuring the 
f ruitfulness of the ground and the increase of man 
and beast." 

The rite of Mylitta was designed as a benefit to 
the woman-devotee. When the man placed the 
coin in the woman's lap, he said: "May the god- 
dess be auspicious to thee," referring, no doubt, to 
her increased potentiality as a mother after the 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 21 

sacred ceremony. Similar rites were practised by 
the Egyptians, the Romans, in the worship of Pria- 
pus, the Corinthians, and among the priestesses of 
Cyprus. 

In Lydia it was the custom of girls to prostitute 
themselves for the purpose of securing a marriage- 
portion. Frazer is of the opinion that this was a 
development of sacred prostitution. At first the 
money is offered to the god, but later it is used by 
the woman as a marriage-portion. The practice 
survives to this day in Japan. 1 

The secularisation of prostitution followed 
gradually upon the decay of religious and symbolic 
prostitution among the Eastern nations. Once a 
ceremony of holy and solemn import, it degener- 
ated into a mere traffic for money, and is now a 
commercial institution of every monogamous coun- 
try. 

In the harems of Babylon, the wives held con- 
siderable power and high status. Nor were the 
concubines the mere chattels of their masters. 
The Hammurabi Code had important clauses re- 
specting the treatment of inferior wives. If a man 
determined to dismiss a concubine, he was com- 
pelled to pay her "the usufruct of field, garden, 
and goods," to maintain and educate her children. 
1 See chapter on "Japan." 



22 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

A bride put away on the ground of sterility, or for 
another cause, was entitled to the price originally 
paid for her. If there was no bride-price, the 
husband paid her one mina of silver; and in the 
case of a poor man one-third of a mina of silver. 

In regard to faithless wives in the harem, the law 
was not liberal. The woman who had "belittled her 
husband," or "played the fool," was sent away 
without compensation or held as the slave of a 
new wife. An errant wife was condemned to 
death by drowning, a favourite Oriental punish- 
ment for women. 

II. ANCIENT EGYPT 

"Among the Egyptians," wrote Diodorus, "the 
woman rules over the man." The existence of the 
harem in a nation so distinguished as ancient Egypt 
for a recognition of sex-equality, is somewhat be- 
wildering at the first thought. 

Let us remember that polygamy from the earli- 
est times has been the privilege and the luxury of 
the rich. It was never the practice of a vast mass 
of the population in polygamous countries. There- 
fore, in speaking of such countries, we must not lose 
sight of the fact that the bulk of women are outside 
of the harems. It is also necessary that we should 
recognise the constant recruiting of the inmates 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 23 

of the harem by the importation of alien women. 

Hammurabi, the great law-maker of the Baby- 
lonians, who held power for forty-three years, pub- 
lished a number of regulations relating to mar- 
riage. Adultery was punishable by the death of 
both persons by drowning. Provision was made 
for the desertion of wives. "If a man has aban- 
doned his city, and absconded, and after that his 
wife has entered the house of another, if that man 
comes back and claims his wife, because he had fled 
and deserted his city, the wife of the deserter shall 
not return to her husband." A wife or a concu- 
bine who had borne children could not be sent 
away from the harem without the return of her 
dowry, and she was at liberty to marry again. In- 
cest incurred a penalty of death, either by drown- 
ing or burning, according to the severity of the 
crime. 

The law of Hammurabi was very rigid in regard 
to the descent of property through the mother. 

"If a man has married a wife and she has borne 
children, and that woman has gone to her fate, then 
her father has no claim upon her dowry. The 
dowry is her children's." 

Mr. Chilperic Edwards, author of "The Oldest 
Laws in the World," writes, in his notes on the 
Hammurabi Code, that many of the stories of 



24 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Herodotus about the women of Babylon are fables. 
"The Babylonian woman was given in marriage by 
her father or brothers. The suitor, or his family, 
paid a certain sum as 'bride-price,' the amount be- 
ing often handed over in instalments. The bride's 
father gave her a 'dowry,' which usually, but not 
necessarily, included the 'bride-price.' The bride- 
groom might also make his bride a 'settlement.' " 

"The status of the concubine is not clear. She 
does not seem to be necessarily of lower rank, like 
the Roman, but was a secondary spouse. Like the 
chief wife she carried bride-price and dowry, and 
we may assume that she possessed the same rights 
as the chief wife in regard to maintenance and par- 
ticipation in the husband's estate." 

A humane measure for the annulment of mar- 
riage on the ground of incompatibility is recorded 
in the following clause : 

"If a woman hate her husband, and say 'Thou 
shalt not possess me,' the reason for her dislike shall 
be inquired into. If she be careful, and has no 
fault, but her husband takes himself away and 
neglects her, then that woman is not to blame. She 
shall take her dowry and go back to her father's 
house." 2 

In the Egypt of ancient days the mass of the peo- 

2 "The Oldest Laws in the World." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 25 

pie laboured for the mere maintenance of existence, 
and bowed beneath the stern common lot of the 
multitude in most civilised nations. Family life 
among the humble was on a very different plane 
from the luxurious lives of the influential and the 
wealthy. But in happy domesticity the Egyptians 
excelled all peoples. The women were the be- 
loved of their husbands, the mistresses of the house. 
Innumerable are the precepts to husbands, urging 
them to bestow tenderness and affection upon their 
wives, to cherish them in every manner, and to 
honour all women. 

The marriage contracts, in the days of the high- 
est culture in Egypt, prove conclusively that 
women were more favoured than men. Purchase- 
marriage became a form only, for the bride-price 
was given to her, and the wife's property was en- 
tirely her own to enjoy and dispense as she chose. 
In the event of separation, the wife retained her 
possessions. A woman who left her husband was 
entitled to all that was her own, and in some in- 
stances the wife was endowed with the whole of her 
husband's belongings. 3 

Children were carefully and lovingly tended by 
both parents. Even the child of a slave woman 

3 See "The Truth About Woman," C. Gasquoine Hartley 
(Mrs. Walter M. Gallichan). 



26 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

was legitimate and accorded equitable rights. 
The woman who had wandered from the strict 
path of chastity was not scorned nor made an out- 
cast. Petah Hotep declared that such misfortune 
should be softened by the kindness of the man who 
had consorted with her. He was enjoined to 
shelter her and "be kind to her for a season," and 
to "send her not away." 

The wives living in polygamy had each their 
own house; their children were endowed, and their 
property- rights were well-defined. Instead of be- 
ing at the beck and call of her husband at any time, 
the woman received him in her own home as an in- 
vited guest. 

Three centuries ago, in France, certain sage doc- 
tors conferred together in order to decide whether 
women were of the same species as men. In 
Egypt, long before the advent of Christianity, so- 
ciety had raised women to dignity and almost to 
adoration. Before we speak of the inevitable deg- 
radation of women under a system of polygamy, 
it will be well to reflect upon the feminism of the 
ancient Egyptians. 

The splendour of the old palaces of Egypt have 
been often described. Kings occupied magnificent 
residences, to which temples were attached. The 
palace had spacious courts and pavilions, and nu- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 27 

merous apartments, beautifully adorned with sculp- 
ture in relief and with paintings. In the scented 
and sequestered gardens, there were bowers and 
sparkling fountains; and* rare trees and imported 
plants flourished. 

Surrounded by his wives, children, concubines 
and slaves, the monarch lived a complete autocrat 
and the head of a large family. 

Women were in constant attendance on the king. 
When he went out in the city, slaves bore him in a 
decorated palanquin, or he rode in a resplendent 
coach. Musicians, singers, and men and women 
dancers entertained the sovereign in his leisure 
hours. We read that the royal parents were much 
attached to their children, and that the king joined 
in the games of the nursery. 

It is clear that when the Egyptians became pa- 
cific, women enjoyed the social, civic and domestic 
advantages which were denied to them during the 
militant period. The Greek travellers in Egypt 
were surprised at the independence of the women. 
It is doubtful whether, at the highest stage in their 
culture, the Greeks approached the Egyptian ideal 
of family life. 

With the example of ancient Egypt before us, 
can we assert justly that the position of women has 
been always debased under polygamous marriage? 



28 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Moslem polygamy has its evils. But who can 
maintain that a sense of justice to women and a 
true regard for her social and personal well-being 
has always been a conspicuous virtue of the mon- 
ogamic communities? 



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A DAUGHTER OF EGYPT 



CHAPTER III 

MOHAMMED AND POLYGAMY 

With the coming of the great Prophet of Islam 
polygamy in the East received a new seal. The 
worship of several deities was impeached by the re- 
former as false and injurious, and a monotheistic 
creed was substituted by the teaching of the Koran. 

A founder of a new faith, however sincere and 
ardent his belief in revelation, is unable to detach 
from his inspiration the influence of national cus- 
tom and tradition. Polygamy was a fixed and 
popular institution, venerated for its antiquity. 

Probably no other system of sexual relationship 
ever presented itself to the mind of the prophet, 
except as an instance of the rankest heresy or sin. 
As an iconoclast vowed to the destruction of the 
old faiths, Mohammed had studied diligently the 
sacred writings of the Hebrews. In their Scrip- 
tures he read that the patriarchs and monarchs fol- 
lowed the rule of the Eastern nations in plural mar- 
riage. His compatriots also practised polygamy. 

When had the custom been forbidden? There- 
fore, under the approval of Allah, plurality of 

wives was plainly permissible. The faithful were 

29 



3 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

instructed that they might take "two, or three, or 
four, and not more women as wives." Provision 
was made also for the ancient practice of concubin- 
age. The possession of all women captured in 
battle, or obtained by purchase, was allowed. 

Divorce being sanctioned by the law of the 
Koran, a devout Moslem is empowered to marry 
a succession of women ; although the number at one 
time is restricted to four. In the sacred writings, 
it is laid down that a man may dismiss and repudi- 
ate his wives without always showing a definite 
cause. On the other hand, legal separation, even 
for adultery, is not so easy as it appears. 

Mohammed, whose first occupation was that of 
a camel driver to a wealthy widow, Khadija, was 
himself the husband of eleven wives, though not all 
at the same time, during the years of his mission. 
His mistress, Khadija, was his first spouse, and he 
had no other during her life. Special revelations 
were granted to the prophet as divine sanction for 
his excess in the number of his wives. But we must 
not suppose that Mohammed was exceptionally 
voluptuous. He had led a temperate and almost 
ascetic youth. His diet was spare, and he often 
shared his meals with poorer brethren. 

Antagonists in the matter of belief have united 
in according fervent sincerity to Mohammed. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 31 

Wellhausen says rightly that the prophet's sheer 
honesty of aim is proved by his voluntary subjec- 
tion to the prejudice and the persecution of the peo- 
ple of Mecca, his native city. His virtues were 
courage, determination, humility in the hour of 
greatness, courtesy, and generosity. 

Judged from the standpoint of Christian 
monogamic principles, the marriage rules of Mo- 
hammed "render the Christian ideal of domestic 
life an impossibility." Such is the view of Mr. 
J. W. H. Stobart, the author of "Islam and its 
Founder." We have seen, however, that "the 
ideal of domestic life" as upheld in Egypt, was 
humane, and perhaps the best that the world has 
known. 

But let us examine the position of women in 
polygamy as permitted by the founder of the Mos- 
lem religion. It is commonly declared that 
women are excluded from the Paradise of the Mo- 
hammedans. This is untrue. We are told dis- 
tinctly that "God will lead the believers of both 
sexes to the gardens of delight." 

The law of the Koran referring to adultery is 
perhaps less primitive in its severity than that of 
Moses. Women are, of course, the most frequent 
delinquents in this offence, because polygamy prac- 
tically liberates men from temptation. Adultery 



32 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

is punishable by death or life-long imprisonment. 
But very conclusive proof is required before con- 
demnation. There must be four eye-witnesses to the 
act. Needless to say, the conviction of offenders is 
rarely secured. 

Regarding illicit intercourse between the sexes, 
the Mohammedan code is extremely austere. Sir 
William Muir states justly that "the gross and sys- 
tematic immorality in certain parts of every Euro 
pean community may be regarded by the Christian 
with shame and confusion," and contrasted with 
"a certain negative virtue" of continence among the 
followers of Islam. 1 

Although theoretically a Mohammedan may re- 
pudiate his wife on a trivial plea, the Koran teaches 
forbearance to the married. "If a woman fear ill- 
usage or aversion from her husband, it shall be no 
crime in them if they agree the matter amicably 
between themselves; for a reconciliation is better 
than a separation." 

That the wives of the harem possess many rights 

1 The Koran contains very explicit teaching on the preser- 
vation of chastity. An aspersion of unchastity upon innocent 
women was punishable by scourging. Promiscuous sexual re- 
lationships are denounced ; but a man may cohabit with his slave 
women or concubines. Strict chastity is enjoined upon Moslem 
women. Such absolute continence is, however, not considered 
within the reach of men. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 33 

and privileges is beyond question. Very fre- 
quently they are the close companions of their hus- 
bands, the advisers, and the arbiters in domestic 
affairs. 

The Moorish wives of the khalifs of Spain were 
frequently women of character and culture; and 
we read of their devotion to their husbands. 
Moon, the spouse of Ibn-Hajjaj, of Seville, wrote 
to her husband: "In all the West I find no right 
noble man save Ibrahim, but he is nobility itself. 
When one has known the delight of living with 
him, to dwell in any other land would be misery." 

Kalam, a beauty of the Court of Abd-er-Rahman 
II., of Cordova, was one of several favoured and 
cultured women of the harem. She was a poet and 
a wonderful musician. Tarib, a much-loved con- 
cubine, was also greatly honoured by the monarch, 
who proclaimed her virtues and her loveliness in 
verse. 

Strict modesty was inculcated amongst early 
Moslems. In pre-Mohammedan days, the preser- 
vation of modesty was marked among the Arabs. 
The Sunna code enjoins that a man should not un- 
cover himself, even when alone, for nakedness was 
abhorrent to God. We may recall Job's atone- 
ment for this offence. Women, when in grief for 
the loss of a relative by death, expressed their emo- 



34 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

tion by uncovering the bosom, and often by tearing 
their garments. A man forbidden to wreak venge- 
ance on an aggressor, showed his annoyance by ex- 
posing those parts of the body usually concealed. 
Such exposures are manifestations of ritual, and 
have nothing to do with lasciviousness. On cer- 
tain occasions, the Hebrew prophets cast ofl their 
clothing, as a symbol or demonstration of emotion. 

Special regulations guarded the pregnant 
woman and the mother during the period of suck- 
ling. Lactation is often prolonged for three years 
in the East, and, during the exercise of this func- 
tion, women are compelled to live as celibates. 
As this would involve sexual abstinence on the part 
of the husband of one wife, we have here, in part, 
the origin of the sanction of polygamy. But this 
injunction does not account for polygamous mar- 
riage. Its sources, as I have indicated, sprang 
from our animal ancestry and primitive appetite. 

Although cleanliness of the body was taught, the 
public bath was not recommended. Mohammed, 
who probably held the common belief that baths 
are haunted by evil spirits, forbade this ablution in 
public. Later, however, he relaxed this rule, and 
men and women were allowed to bathe, provided 
they wore loin cloths. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 35 

"Whatever woman enters a bath the devil is with 
her," declared the prophet. Nevertheless, the 
hamman, or bath, became a popular institution of 
Mohammedanism. The habit of mixed bathing 
may have been adapted from the Romans. In an- 
cient Pompeii there were three sumptuous public 
baths. 

Christianity abolished the bath. The first saints 
realised clearly that the cleanness of the skin, pro- 
duced by bathing, friction, and unguents, was a 
stimulant to passion. St. Paula reproved her nuns 
for scrupulous washing, averring that "the purity 
of the body and its garments means the impurity of 
the soul." In mediaeval Europe, as Lecky points 
out, the dirtiest of religious devotees were the most 
honoured for their saintliness. The monks in the 
Middle Ages bathed only twice a year. It was 
better to be filthy externally than concupiscent 
within. 

The Christian religion was a reaction and pro- 
test against the excesses of Greece and Rome. 
Frequent ablution, with its tonic effect on the whole 
system, was practised in the classic times for an- 
other reason besides cleanliness. In denouncing 
the bath, the early Christian teachers aimed at the 
lessening of sensuality. Under Henry II. of Eng- 



36 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

land, baths were recognised legally as brothels. 
There were several public baths in Southwark at 
this date. 

Among the Moslems the purification of the body 
was a rite, and we find, throughout the whole do- 
minion of the Mohammedan faith, an intense de- 
votion to the bath. In the wonderful Moorish 
cities of Spain there were baths in every quarter. 
The "Turkish bath," with its massage, friction, 
sweating, and stimulation of the skin, was no 
dmibt designed for other purposes besides ablu- 
tion. 

Celibacy is regarded with pious horror by true 
believers in Allah. E. W. Lane, author of "Man- 
ners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," 
found hostility among his neighbours in Egypt be- 
cause he was unmarried. Difficulties were placed 
in the way of obtaining a house, and Lane was told 
that the purchase of a female slave would remove 
all disabilities. A sheikh besought him to marry 
a handsome young widow, who was quite willing 
to be divorced at the end of the visitor's two years' 
sojourn, or whenever it might suit him. 

The avoidance of the sin of celibacy is not diffi- 
cult in the East. In Egypt, the woman who said, 
"I give myself up to thee," to a man who desired 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 37 

her as wife, was allowed to marry, even without 
witnesses, if none could be found. Illicit unions 
are, therefore, uncommon even to-day. 

Oriental male supremacy is expressed clearly in 
the description of Paradise. In the material 
heaven prepared for men of this faith, the poorest 
man is rewarded with seventy-two beautiful brides. 
The virgins of Paradise are termed houris, or 
hooreeyehs. Besides possessing these heavenly 
spouses, a man may renew his marriage with the 
wives who have preceded him into elysium. To 
the Mohammedan woman, Paradise offers no such 
allurements. She will dwell there as she dwelt 
on earth, one of many wives. 

The man translated to eternal bliss will live in 
a tent spangled with the costliest jewels, and will 
eat his delicate meals on plates of gold ; while his 
ears are enraptured by the music of Israfeel, 
"whose heartstrings are a lute." He will not ex- 
perience satiety in sensual pleasures. If he pleases, 
he may beget children. Wine of the most luscious 
vintage will be his daily beverage, and he may 
drink of it freely. 

Modern exponents of the teaching of Moham- 
med state that the prophet taught equality between 
men and women in married life. The salient 



38 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

rights of women under Moslem law are as fol- 
lows : — 2 

Chastity is enjoined upon men as well as women. 

Every wife has her own dower, servants and 
apartments. 

The marriage settlement must be returned in full 
upon divorce or separation. 

At the death of the husband, wife recovers all of 
her dower and part of her husband's estate. 

A wife may incur necessary debts in her hus- 
band's name. 

A virgin of adult age cannot be compelled to 
marry. 

A divorced woman, or a widow, may marry 
again. 

A woman pays only half of a fine paid by a man 
for legal offences. 

Women must not be killed in warfare. 

A wife may, with her husband's consent, seek for 
divorce. 

No wife can be convicted of adultery without 
the actual evidence of four witnesses. 3 

The legal and social disabilities of the women of 
Iclam are: — 

2 Set Syed Ameer Ali's contribution to "The Dictionary 

of Islam." 

3 "Personal Laws of the Mohammedans" — Ameer Ali. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 39 

No woman can object to be one of four wives, 
nor to the number of concubines maintained by her 
husband. 

Wives may be chastised. We are informed that 
such punishment is rare. 

Women cannot give evidence as witnesses in law 
courts. 

A wife must obey her husband implicitly. 

Wives can be repudiated for several causes. 
Such repudiation is, however, not very common, 
and Mohammed warned husbands against dis- 
charging their wives through caprice or for insuffi- 
cient reasons. The secluded life of the harem, and 
the lack of social intercourse with men, except hus- 
bands and relatives, tends to narrow the intelligence 
of women, and their outlook upon life is circum- 
scribed. 

In some respects, Mohammed improved the 
status of women. Before his mission there was 
considerable licence and a kind of sexual anarchy. 
It would appear, from certain old Arabian prov- 
erbs, that before Islam, women were regarded as 
malign beings and greatly inferior to men. For 
example, it was said that: — 

"Women are the whips of Satan." 

"Obedience to a woman will have to be repented 
of." 



4 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

"What has a woman to do with the councils of a 
nation?" 

"Trust neither a king, a horse, nor a woman." 

"Our mother forbids us to err, and runs into 
error." 4 

We find a somewhat higher conception of 
woman in a Mohammedan saying: "A good wife 
is as a mother for affection and tenderness; as a 
slave-girl for content and attentions; as a friend for 
concord and sincerity." It must be noted that this 
appraisement embodies docility and obedience, and 
is entirely in the spirit of the patriarchal rule in 
families. There is, however, some recognition of 
companionship between husband and wife. 

In "The Crescent and the Cross," Warburton 
says that Moslem women do not show any discon- 
tent with their condition. They like to be watched 
and guarded closely, and discern no "degradation" 
in the life of seclusion in the harems. No doubt 
this is true in regard to the majority of women in 
the East. The majority everywhere are, as a rule, 
fairly satisfied with their position. But it is be- 
yond question that dissatisfaction exists among 
many educated women in Mohammedan countries. 
There is a "feminist movement" in every civilised 
state; and educated women in Turkey and Egypt 

4 Dictionary of Islam. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 41 

and India hold meetings to-day to discuss the rights 
of their sex. Some of these conclaves are attended 
by men, who listen attentively to the pleas and 
arguments of the women. 

While we must grant that there was a stage in 
pre-Moslem times, in Egypt, Arabia, and Pales- 
tine, in which women seem to have occupied an in- 
ferior station, the attitude of men was not usually 
contemptuous or harsh. Woman has always been 
endowed with mysterious, and often sacred, attri- 
butes. Amongst the ancient Arabs the touch of a 
woman could save a malefactor on the way to exe- 
cution. So strong was this belief that criminals 
were led through streets blindfolded. 



CHAPTER IV 

ANCIENT JEWISH POLYGAMY 

Among the Semitic people more than one kind of 
marriage existed. Jacob was the husband of two 
sisters, and Amram, the father of Moses, married 
his aunt. The greatest of the Jewish saints were 
polygamists, and many owned concubines and 
slave-women. David possessed both wives and 
concubines. Solomon was the lord of seven hun- 
dred wives and three hundred concubines. 

Purchase-marriage was the custom; the Hebrew 
parent was allowed to sell his daughter as a wife, 
concubine, or maid-servant The purchaser could 
dismiss the wife or handmaiden at will. Plurality 
of wives was also maintained, as in Babylon and 
Egypt, by the capture of women in warfare. 

When Moses conquered the Midianites, he com- 
manded : "Now, therefore, kill every male among 
the little ones, and kill every woman that hath 
known man by lying with him. But all the women 
children that hath not known man by lying with 
him keep alive for yourselves." 

The price paid for a wife in the time of Hosea 

was fifteen pieces of silver and a homer-and-a-half 

42 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 43 

of barley. If the buyer grew tired of the woman, 
he had merely to publish the fact that she had "no 
favour in his eyes," and send her from the home. 
When a husband conceived suspicion of his wife's 
infidelity, he was permitted to subject her to a bar- 
barous form of trial by ordeal. 

The Jews remained a semi-barbaric race when 
Babylon and Egypt were hoary nations. The posi- 
tion of their women was greatly inferior in every 
respect to that of the women of ancient Babylon. 
Up to the Fifth Century, B.C., polygyny of an al- 
most primitive character survived among the He- 
brew people. The practice was not even repro- 
bated by some of the early Christian reformers. 
It lingered till the Reformation, and was permitted 
by Martin Luther. 

The priestess had wielded power in the old civil- 
isations of the East; but, under the rule of St. Paul, 
Christian women were even forbidden to speak in 
the churches. The celibate life was exalted. 
Later, St. Gregory of Nyssa taught that wedlock is 
the outcome of iniquity. St. Augustine, who be- 
lieved in woman's inferiority, declared that bigamy 
might be permitted if a wife was sterile. 

The Jewish harem reached its highest import- 
ance and splendour in the time of David and Solo- 
mon. David first married Michal, the daughter 



44 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

of Saul, who, after a quarrel, transferred Michal 
to another husband. Abigal was the next bride of 
David, and afterwards he formed an adulterous 
union with the lovely Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. 
In his palace were many concubines. Ten of these 
women misconducted themselves with the king's 
son Absalom, and as a punishment they were im- 
prisoned for the rest of their lives. 

Chastity was inculcated by Moses and Solomon, 
and fornication was condemned. "Do not prosti- 
tute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore, lest 
the land fall into whoredom, and the land become 
full of wickedness." (Leviticus 19-29.) Solo- 
mon, in the seventh chapter of Proverbs, warns 
young men against "the strange woman." "Let 
not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in 
her paths." 

In the courts of Baal and Asherah there are dis- 
tinct traces of ancient Phallicism, and this worship 
survived till the time of Joshua. The temple of 
Solomon was of Phoenician character, and the dec- 
orations were Phallic. Jeremiah complains that 
the people "defiled the land, and committed adul- 
tery with stones and with stocks." The worship of 
Priapus is mentioned by Ezekiel (xvL-17), and 
such worship of sexual images is referred to in 
Deuteronomy iv., 16. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 45 

Sacred prostitution was known among trie Jews, 
as both Kuenen and Kalisch testify. The latter 
writer says : "The unchaste worship of Ashtarte, 
known also as Beltis and Tannais, Ishtar, Mylitta, 
and Anaitis, Asherah, and Ashtaroth, flourished 
among the Hebrews at all times, both in the king- 
dom of Jydah and Israel ; it consisted in presenting 
to the goddess who was revered as the female prin- 
ciple of conception and birth, the virginity of 
maidens as a first-fruit offering; and it was associ- 
ated with the utmost licentiousness. This degrad- 
ing service took such deep root that in the Assyrian 
period it was soon extended by the adoption of new 
rites borrowed from Eastern Asia, and described 
by the name of "Tents of the Maidens." * 

The Song of Solomon, one of the oldest books of 
the Bible, has been ascribed to the same writer as 
the Book of Ecclesiastes. Some critics have urged 
that "the Song of Songs" was a bridal poem cele- 
brating the marriage of Solomon with the daughter 
of Pharaoh. Whoever the author may have been, 
the Song of Solomon conveys instructive evidence 
of the strongly erotic conception of women among 
the Jews. The poem abounds in sensuous images 
and rapturous delight in the physical charm of 
women. This fine relic of ancient Oriental litera- 

1 "Bible Studies."— J. M. Wheeler. 



46 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

ture was forbidden by the Jewish Church to readers 
under thirty years of age, on account of its ama- 
tory character. The outspokenness of certain pas- 
sages merely reveals the ordinary Eastern concep- 
tion of women and love. 

The fair damsel of Shulam, who speaks in the 
Song of Solomon, is an instance of a Hebrew 
woman's recoil against enforced polygamy. She 
had been captured and taken to the king's harem, 
and a place of honour was offered to her. But the 
Shulamite maid loved a shepherd youth of her 
native country. The monarch tries all the arts of 
wooing, and promises precious gifts; but the girl 
bears in her heart a deep love for her shepherd 
swain. Even when the king offers to make her the 
chiefest of "three score queens and four score con- 
cubines and virgins without number," the daughter 
of Shulam still pines for her own land and the 
caresses of her chosen lover. 

In this story we have one of the few Old Testa- 
ment instances of a preference for the single love- 
union, and an illustration of the constancy of a 
woman to her humble suitor, whom she values 
more than all the privileges and delights of the 
royal harem. 

Four wives were permitted to each man by the 
old Hebrew teachers. A king might marry eight- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 47 

een women. Divorce was easily obtained by men, 
one of the grounds being ugliness in a wife. 

Among the J'ews professing the faith of Islam, 
polygamy is still practised in Jerusalem. 2 The con- 
ditions of harem life are like those prevailing in 
Turkey and Egypt. There is a tendency to adopt 
Western fashions in dress, and the women are clad 
in Parisian gowns. Marriage is followed by seven 
days of feasting. The bridegroom hangs swords 
from the bride's neck, as a sign that she is under his 
authority. As elsewhere in the East, the wife is 
heavily perfumed on the bridal day, and her nails 
and toes are stained with henna. 

A. Goodrich Freer says that the children of the 
Jewish Mohammedans are treated affectionately 
by their parents, and that there is improvement in 
the education of girls. 

2 "Inner Jerusalem" — A. Goodrich Freer. 



CHAPTER V 

THE WOMEN OF INDIA 

AMONG the people of our Indian Empire exist all 
forms of the sex-relationship from polyandry to 
polygamy. For the student of marriage customs 
this is a great field for inquiry. India fascinates 
and bewilders. 

In this vast peninsula, we rule over a population 
of over two-hundred-and-ninety-four millions; a 
people speaking more than one-hundred-and-forty 
languages, and adhering to differing traditions and 
practices. Seventy per cent, of the natives are fol- 
lowers of the Hindu religion. There are over 
sixty-two millions of Mohammedans; over nine 
millions Buddhists, mostly in Burma; and more 
than two millions professing the Christian creed. 
Besides these believers, there are thousands of 
Sikhs, Parsees, Jains, and small sects holding vari- 
ous tenets. 

The popular faith of India is Hinduism, a creed 
of pantheism mingled with the worship of many 
deities. Dominating all other gods is the uni- 
versal Brahman. The religion is almost incom- 
prehensible to the Western mind. Its keynote is 

a philosophic pessimism. Life must be endured; 

4 8 




GIRLS OF NORTHERN INDIA 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 49 

existence is not a boon in itself. "In the union of 
soul and body lies the source of human misery." 

In India there are some millions of widows of 
the Hindu faith, forbidden by religion to marry a 
second husband. There are one thousand men to 
about nine hundred women. Marriage is en- 
joined upon all adults except widows and religious 
celibates. 

The ethics of Hinduism may perhaps be summed 
up in this passage from the sacred writings: — 

"Joy, pleasure, nobility, enlightenment and hap- 
piness also, absence of stinginess, absence of fear, 
contentment, faith, forgiveness, courage, harmless- 
ness, equability, truth, straightforwardness, absence 
of wrath, absence of calumniation, purity, dex- 
terity, valour." 

Parents and women are to be held in honour: — 

"By honouring his father, his mother, and his 
teacher, all that ought to be done by man is accom- 
plished; that is clearly the highest duty; every 
other act is a subordinate duty." 

"Where women are honoured there the gods are 
pleased, but where they are not honoured, no sacred 
rite yields rewards." 

"He only is a perfect man who consists of three 
persons united — his wife, himself, and his off- 
spring." 



50 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

"He who has unjustly forsaken his wife shall put 
on an ass's skin with the hair turned outside, and 
lay in seven houses, saying: 'Give alms to him 
who forsook his wife.' That shall be his livelihood 
for six months." 

Miss Flora Annie Steel, who possesses an inti- 
mate knowledge of Indian life, has said that the 
average British view of the position of women un- 
der Hinduism is "simply appalling" for its igno- 
rance. This author declares that she never knows 
whether "to laugh or cry at — let us say — a Zenana 
meeting in some sleepy, self-satisfied, little English 
village, where a select company of British matrons 
and spinsters sit in judgment on polygamy with an 
inward reminiscence of Bluebeard, or shudder at 
suttee as if they could see no beauty in self-sacri- 
fice." 

In 1906, Margaret E. Noble, the Sister Nivedita, 
published a highly interesting book of intimate 
Hindu impressions entitled "The Web of Indian 
Life." The picture that she draws of the status of 
the Indian woman is fascinating, and, to Western 
minds, very astonishing. There is no doubt that 
the writer's lively prejudice has inspired her en- 
thusiastic praise for everything Indian. She ap- 
plauds the system of the sheltered life for women, 
and smiles at our English ideal of sex-equality. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 51 

Men walk alone in the streets of the cities of 
India. Notwithstanding, Miss Noble asserts that 
women have quite as much "equality" here as falls 
to the lot of the average single woman "living 
alone, or following professional careers, in the sub- 
urbs of London and other Western cities." 

Self-effacement and utter unselfishness is the 
ideal of the devout Hindu wife and mother. Hus- 
bands and wives do not "address each other in the 
presence of others" ; and "a wife may not name her 
husband, much less praise him." According to 
the Sister Nivedita, this reticence is based on a 
sense of what is called "good form" in England, 
and is no proof of a lack of respect for womanhood, 
marriage, and family life. The Indian wife 
adores her husband with "passionate reverence"; 
and in return her husband offers her boundless 
tenderness and protection. He was taught to 
honour and love his mother; he is equally rever- 
ential and affectionate towards his wife and the 
mother of his children. The wife is the happy, 
willing servitor, companion, and disciple of the 
husband. She kneels to him and touches his feet 
when he pleases her. It is not equality. "No," 
says Miss Noble. "But who talks of a vulgar 
equality, asks the Hindu wife, when she may have 



52 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

instead the unspeakable blessedness of offering wor- 
ship?" 

Do the men of India abuse this worship and the 
humility on the part of their wives? The author 
of "The Web of Indian Life" declares very insist- 
ently that they do not. A Hindu husband appears 
to be as admirable in the performance of all his 
conjugal obligations as his lovingly submissive 
spouse. Miss Noble reiterates again and again the 
blessedness of the Hindu woman's position in the 
home, until we are feign to believe that she is the 
happiest and most fortunate woman in the world. 

Very little is said concerning polygamy. We 
read that a man may contract a second marriage if 
his wife remains sterile after the end of seven years, 
and that the first wife is by no means averse to this 
arrangement. Polygamy, according to Miss 
Noble, is rather rare in Hindu society. She has 
very little to say upon the question of the marriage 
of children to adult men. 

"The courtesy of husbands to their wives is quite 
unfailing amongst Hindus," writes Miss Noble. 
" 'Thou shalt not strike a woman even with a 
flower,' is the proverb. His wife's desire for com- 
panionship on a journey is the first claim on a man. 
And it is very touching to notice how, as years go 
on, he leans more and more to the habit of address- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 53 

ing her as 'O, thou mother of our son!' and present- 
ing her to new-comers as 'my children's mother,' 
thus reflecting upon her his worship of mother- 
hood." 

The admiration, professed so sincerely by Miss 
Noble, for the marriage system of the Hindu re- 
ligion is shared by an English lady known to me, 
who is the wife of a high-caste Hindu. She con- 
siders the unrest of the Western women who are 
battling so vigorously for rights, freedom, votes, 
and full equality with men, a tragic spectacle. 
English women seem to her to miss all that is best 
in life, all the precious things that lie within their 
grasp, in their eagerness to take a share in govern- 
ment. I cannot agree entirely with this lady. But 
there is a serene philosophy in her recommenda- 
tion of "the sheltered life for women," which can- 
not be ignored. 

In the West the sexes are at present torn almost 
to universal dissension with strife, distrust and re- 
criminations. Apparently such antagonism is in- 
conceivable to the mind of the loving, contented 
Hindu woman, who asks for nothing more than a 
perpetual deepening of her affection and solicitude 
for husband and children. She gains all by losing 
herself. It is nobler to serve than to lead, to heed 
than to teach, to obey than to command. Such is 



54 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the highest ideal of the Eastern woman. "Vulgar 
equality" contrasted with this perfect happiness in 
the consciousness of the finer development of the 
emotions is a worthless toy. It is the woman's 
noblest part to give herself unselfishly and always, 
that her husband may love and praise her, and her 
children rise up and call her blessed among women. 

Such self-abnegation is the keynote of Hindu 
feminism. How different from the cult of West- 
ern emancipation. And yet may not the West 
learn from the East, and the East from the West, 
in this vital question of the position of women? I 
speak as a whole-hearted supporter of the move- 
ment for the advancement of women in social life 
and politics. 

"I desire not paradise itself if thou are not satis- 
fied with me!" cries the divine Hindu spouse to 
her husband. "She is a true wife who gladdens 
her husband," says Raja Shekhara in the "Karpura 
Manjari." 

I am indebted to Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy 
for an excellent statement of the status of the Hindu 
wife, in his pamphlet, "Sati: A Vindication of the 
Hindu Woman," printed in 1913. The writer 
quotes from the "Laws of Manu," the following ex- 
plicit injunction upon women: — 

"Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 55, 

elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, a husband 
must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faith- 
ful wife. ... If a wife obeys her husband, she will 
for that reason alone be exalted in heaven." 

"The production of children, the nurture of 
those born, and the daily life of men, of these mat- 
ters woman is visibly the cause." 

"She who controlling her thoughts, speech, and 
acts, violates not her duty to her lord, dwells with 
him after death in heaven, and in this world is 
called by the virtuous a faithful wife." 

The enforcement of such reverence for husbands 
is quite foreign and contradictory to the concep- 
tion of marriage among cultured women in the 
Western nations. It appears to cut at the very 
basis of sex-equality, and to undermine all our ad- 
vanced principles of liberty for women, "freedom 
for wives to live their own lives," and the higher 
status of women generally. Dr. Coomaraswamy, 
anticipating this criticism, states shrewdly: "Let 
us at once acknowledge, with all competent ob- 
servers, that the power of women over men is far 
greater in India than in any industrial state in the 
West." 

This power of the Hindu women is exerted not, 
as in Europe, by the young and attractive, but by 
mothers, grandmothers and widows. Manu de- 



56 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

clares : "The mother exceedeth a thousand fathers 
in the right to reverence, and in the function of 
teacher." "I cannot emphasize too strongly," says 
the writer of the pamphlet, "the fact of this influ- 
ence of mothers in India, not merely over children 
and in household matters, but over grown-up men, 
to whom their word is law. One might almost 
say that the Native States are ruled by the queen- 
mothers from behind the purdah." 

Wherever we find goddesses in a religion, there 
certainly exists a higher measure of esteem for 
women than among the faiths honouring only male 
deities. Half the Hindus revere Shakti, the fe- 
male symbol of deity, and they address their god 
as She. Shiva is a personification of the male, 
Uma of the female. This goddess, says Dr. 
Coomaraswamy, is "the ideal Hindu wife, and the 
first Sati, and shy beyond words; she is Shiva's 
humblest servant, desiring no good in heaven or 
earth beyond his welfare. She is in truth an image 
of Indian woman." 

The practice of Suttee, or Sati, has puzzled and 
shocked the British rulers of India. We cannot 
understand the Hindu woman's attitude to love and 
marriage without a careful examination of the 
origin and meaning of this custom. 

When Bramah died, one of his devoted wives 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 57 

sacrificed herself that she might join him in heaven. 
Voluntarily and gladly she went to the burning 
pyre. This example was adopted by devout wid- 
ows. Seven hundred have immolated themselves 
by burning, in one year, in Bengal alone. 1 They 
died calmly, even happily, showing extraordinary 
fortitude. Young wives of less than twenty years 
of age have relinquished life, and bade farewell to 
their cherished children and dearest relatives, in 
obedience to the overwhelming impulse of self- 
destruction as a noble and pious act of devotion to 
a husband. 

English law-makers saw in this practice only the 
survival of "barbarism." They missed the sym- 
bolic meaning, the deep, passionate joy of the sacri- 
fice, and the expression of a love stronger than 
death. Suttee was forbidden by a law of 1829; 
but the deep-rooted custom was not entirely abol- 
ished. The highest form of human self-sacrifice, 
as it is described by Sir Alfred C. Lyall, was the 
last custom to disappear in parts of India. 

It has been supposed, quite incorrectly, that men 
imposed Sati upon women. The rite was intro- 
duced entirely by widows of devout faith and 

1 Hadyn "Dictionary of Dates," 5th ed. Dr. Coomara- 
swamy states that perhaps a thousand widows in all have com- 
mitted Sati. 



58 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

strong conjugal affection. Dr. Coomaraswamy 
traces the custom back to more than a thousand 
years before the Christian era, and quotes, from 
an old Persian author, the story of a Hindu girl 
who gave herself to the flames on the very day of 
the death of her betrothed. 

Sir Frederick Halliday recounted how a widow, 
desiring to die by the Sati sacrifice, demonstrated 
to him her indifference to the agony of burning. 
She held her finger in a lamp "until it was burnt 
and twisted like a quill pen held in the flame of a 
candle." Sir F. Halliday, having witnessed this 
woman's marvellous power of endurance, felt 
bound to accord his permission to the petitioner to 
join the spirit of her dead husband. 

Hinduism is the dynamic that shapes the emo- 
tion and the thought of these most feminine of 
women. Their crown is Love. They give life 
and joy. 

"Conjunction with me renders life long; 

2 I give youth when I enter upon amorousness." 

Buddhism, the other great ancient creed of In- 

2 "Woman is man's better half, 
Woman is man's bosom friend, 
Woman is redemption's source, 
From woman springs the liberator." 

Old Hindu Poem. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 59 

dia, has, in many of its doctrines and parables, a 
close similarity to the teaching of Christianity. It 
teaches self-renunciation, a tranquillity of the 
spirit, toleration, forgiveness and chastity. Gau- 
tama counsels filial respect and love of wife and 
child. He insists upon self-restraint and pur- 
ity:— 3 

"Let the wise man avoid an unchaste life as a 
burning heap of coals ; not being able to live a life 
of chastity, let him not transgress with another 
man's wife." 

Ananda, a disciple, asks Gautama how he is to 
conduct himself in regard to women. 

"Do not see them," is the reply. 

"But if we should see them, what are we to do?" 

"Abstain from speech." 

"But if they should speak to us, lord, what are 
we to do?" 

"Keep wide awake." 

The Indian followers of the teaching of Zo- 
roaster, or Zara-thustra, form a highly intellectual 
cult. This is the most rational of all the religions 
of our Indian Empire; for it is almost free from 

3 Buddhism favoured monogamy and chastity. "The per- 
centage of illegitimate births is low in those countries where 
the influence of Buddhism has been greatest, and its canonical 
literature is chaste throughout." — T. W. Rhys David. Ency- 
clopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. III., "Chastity." 



60 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

myths concerning miracles, and its ethics are sing- 
ularly comprehensive and liberal. 

Among the Parsees, the modern exponents of the 
Zoroastrian philosophy, murder, infanticide, adult- 
ery, — committed by men as well as women — lying, 
slander, theft and perjury are condemned posi- 
tively. Kindness to animals is expressly incul- 
cated. In this faith we shall look for an ideal of 
equality between the sexes. And not in vain ; the 
Parsee moral writings teach plainly that the woman 
is the equal of the man. The higher education of 
women is encouraged, and there are women doctors 
in the community. 4 Among Parsee women are the 
most zealous advocates of social and educational 
reforms among their sex. 

The marriage customs of the Nairs of Malabar 
are especially interesting, as they afford an example 
of the persistence of the Maternal Family. Elie 
Reclus gives us an excellent study of these people 
in his "Primitive Folk." He describes the Nairs 
as tall, handsome, vigorous men of olive skin ; they 
are splendid warriors, and athletes. The women 
are as lissome and fine-featured as the men. They 
have very long dark hair, which they dress with 
much care. Their manners are amiable. 

In this community we have a curious instance of 

4 See "A Modern Zoroastrian," Samuel Laing. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 61 

polyandry and polygamy side by side. An opu- 
lent Nair is usually a polygamist; the artisans and 
the poor generally are polyandrists. The same 
system prevails in Ceylon. Among the Nairs two 
or three brothers marry one woman. Their sisters 
marry, but live afterwards as "free lances." The 
whole system of the sex relationship is extremely 
complicated; but it is a pregnant fact that the 
mother is strictly the head of the family. 

A son living with his mother desires to possess a 
home of his own. As the chief of his house, he 
takes his sister, who is superior to his wife in domes- 
tic control. Love between the sexes is a passing 
matter; love between brother and sister is a deeper 
and enduring emotion. 

Reclus states that the Brahmins tried to suppress 
the marriage custom of the Nairs. Nowadays the 
Kouline Brahmins perform for the Nair women an 
amorous rite, their services being in great request 
among the maidens of low caste. In other parts of 
India the priest is solicited for this consecration, 
notably in Burma. By this means, according to 
Reclus, the Brahmins hold religious sway over the 
Nairs, who refuse, however, to accept their politi- 
cal rule. 

"Proud and haughty warrior though he be, the 
Nair cheerfully obeys his mother, assisted by his 



62 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

uncle, and seconded by his eldest sister; the trio 
manage the common property, and he who partici- 
pates in it renders them an account of his exploits 
and achievements." 5 

The Todas of the Neilgherries practise a mixed 
polyandry and polygamy. "Each wife had several 
husbands, all brothers, and each husband several 
wives, all sisters. Later, three men made shift 
with two girls, or five with three." Polyandry ap- 
pears to be waning rapidly among the Todas, and 
Reclus says that every well-to-do man in the tribe 
desires a wife of his own. 

Among the Rajputs women have a notably high 
status. This fine race descends from early immi- 
grants; the men are very vigorous and hardy, with 
handsome features, and the women are equally 
strong and physically beautiful. 

Love among the Rajputs is an emotional and 
romantic passion. There is a tradition of chivalry, 
and men often engage in combats for the winning 
of brides. Masculine devotion to women is very 
deep and tender, and women are esteemed as al- 
most divine. 

The marriage ceremonies are simple and charm- 
ing. The bride weaves garlands of flowers, which 
she hangs around the bridegroom's neck. Among 

5 " Primitive Folk." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 63 

the Rajputs there are marked traces of the matri- 
archal system. Marriage is in no sense oppressive 
to women, and true sex-equality seems to exist. 
No husband ever conducts a business or domestic 
affair without seeking the counsels and proposals 
of his wife. Undoubtedly, where men and women 
work side by side in common avocations, there is 
a high regard for the intelligence and judgment of 
women, as well as conjugal equality. 

A testimony as to the power of the mothers in 
India is given by Father Elwin, 6 a missionary. He 
says that mothers of families direct the religious 
beliefs of their children, and rule in all matters 
over even their grown-up sons. 

If the condition of the wife under Hinduism is 
inferior to that of married women under Christian- 
ity, which has been questioned by some English 
writers, her status as a mother is one of supreme 
authority. Throughout the Indian Empire, the 
mother is the practical, actual head of the family. 

6 "Fifty-four Years in Poona City." 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CULT OF WOMAN AND LOVE 

SAKTI, the female deity, is Woman and Love, and 
Motherhood. She is worshipped by the intellec- 
tual class, the scribes and the clerks. Sakti is the 
men's goddess among a numerous following. 
There are holy rites of a sexual character associated 
with her adoration. The word sakti signifies 
power and energy. 

As I have said before, where women are exalted 
as the goddesses of religion, they usually occupy a 
higher status than among the worshippers of male 
deities. In India, therefore, notwithstanding the 
much-assailed institution of the zenana, women are 
by no means the vassals or the mere chattels of men, 
as we are sometimes taught to believe. 

"Far from India's being the land of the uniform 
oppression of women," writes Miss Margaret 
Noble, "by a uniform method, it represents the 
whole cycle of feminist institutions. There is 
literally no theory of feminine rights and position 
that does not find illustration somewhere within 
her boundaries." 

The erotic valuation of women in India is not, 

6 4 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 65 

as it may appear at first, a simple expression of 
sensuousness. It is something deeper, more subtle. 
Love and religion are intermingled, even in the 
zenana. 

The amours of Krishna and Radha, in the 
"Prem-Sagar," are said by some Occidental critics 
to bore with their reiterations of love-adventures, 
and have been described as "indecent." Probably, 
judged from the prurient-prudish standpoint of the 
West, they are so. But who shall decide? Does 
not the Old Testament, used in our churches, con- 
tain the most amorous of pictures in the "Song" 
ascribed to King Solomon? 

The veil screening the face of Hindu women has 
been accepted as an emblem of the oppression of 
the sex. May it not possess a very different signifi- 
cance? It is true that a woman may not show her 
face to any man save father, brother, and husband. 
But the veil is, in a sense, a tribute to Woman, 
whose loveliness and sweetness of countenance has 
in it something sacred, which must not be exposed 
to the common gaze. No Hindu woman feels her- 
self degraded by the practice of veiling part of her 
features. She would be insulted if you suggested 
that the veil symbolised her bondage to men. 

The life behind the purdah, the thick curtain 
that conceals the women of the zenana from the 



66 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

gaze of strangers, seems to Western eyes oppressive, 
even degrading. A man-doctor, who calls profes- 
sionally upon a lady of the zenana, feels her pulse 
and questions her through the curtain. 

Is this imprisonment? Indian women in the 
mass do not think so. The rights to which reli- 
gion and law entitle them are accorded duly behind 
the purdah. They are queens of the home, not 
active competitors with men in the scramble for 
existence. Their greatest ambition is to be women, 
and that ideal connotes much that the woman of 
the West is discarding in scornful rebellion. Spin- 
sterhood, and "the right to live one's own life," 
— the supreme consummation of a large number of 
revolutionary British women — make no appeal to 
an Indian woman. Her strongest impulses are 
to fulfil her womanhood, to experience love, and 
to bear children. That is her vocation, her ambi- 
tion, and her joy. 

I have repeated the testimony of English women, 
who discern, in the home-life of India, a perfect 
adjustment of the functions and responsibilities of 
both sexes. But there are critics, Indian as well as 
foreign; and we must listen to them. It is, of 
course, incredible that there are no malcontents 
among the Hindu women. 

The wave of feminine revolt is sweeping steadily 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 67 

eastwards. It has reached Turkey, and has spread 
to the farther East. In another chapter I shall 
present a very different point of view from those of 
certain of my Indian friends and correspondents. 
For the present, we are considering the Hindu 
reverence for woman as the lover, the bride, the 
lifegiver. She is more than this. There is a sa- 
credness, something that arouses awe, in her body, 
and her physical functions. To show how deep 
and sincere is this mingled emotion of piety and 
sex-love, I cannot do better than quote some lines 
by the greatest living Indian poet, Rabindra Nath 
Tagore, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Litera- 
ture in 19 1 3. 

GOD AND THE ASCETIC 

At midnight the would-be ascetic announced: 

"This is the time to give up my home and seek for God. Ah! 
who has held me so long in delusion here?" 

God whispered, "I !" But the ears of the man were stopped. 

With a baby asleep at her breast lay his wife, peacefully sleep- 
ing on one side of the bed. 

The man said: "Who are ye that have fooled me so long?" 

The voice said again, "They are God!" But he heard it not. 

The baby cried out in its dream, nestling close to its mother. 

God commanded, "Stop, fool; leave not thy home." But still 
he heard not. 

God sighed and complained, "Why does My servant wander 
to seek Me, forsaking Me?" 

How exquisitely the writer expresses the holiness 
of love and parentage. 



68 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Here is a beautiful tribute to a woman from her 
lover : — 

HALF WOMAN AND HALF DREAM 

O, woman, you are not merely the handiwork of God, but also 
of men; these are ever endowing you with beauty from 
their hearts. 

Poets are weaving for you a web with threads of golden 
imagery; painters are giving your form ever new immor- 
tality. 

The sea gives its pearls, the mines their gold, the summer 
gardens their flowers to deck you, to cover you, to make 
you more precious. 

The desire of men's hearts has shed its glory over your youth. 

You are one half woman and one half dream. 

And here, too, is the purest expression of passion 
from the lips of a woman : — 

TELL ME, MY LOVER 

Tell me if this be all true, my lover, tell me if this be true: 
Is it true that my lips are sweet, like the opening bud of the 

first conscious love? 
Do the memories of vanished months of May linger in my 

limbs ? 
Is it true, is it true, that your love travelled alone through ages 

and worlds in search of me? 
That when you found me at last your age-long desire found 

utter peace in my gentle speech and my eyes and lips and 

flowing hair? 
Is it then true that the mystery of the infinite is written on this 

little forehead of mine? 
Tell me, my lover, if all this be true. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 69 

The sanctity of sex is unfortunately a phrase al- 
most without meaning in the Western world, where 
physical passion is often dismissed as "mere ani- 
mality." Ages ago, the Oriental peoples recog- 
nised that the highest sexual morality is only com- 
patible with grave and frank acceptance of the 
methods ordained by the gods for the propagation 
of the human species. The Christian has rarely 
indeed accepted the Almighty's plan in the same 
reverential spirit. How revolting are the concep- 
tions of St. Bernard and most of the Fathers: 
"You have never seen a viler dunghill!" (i.e., than 
the human body) cries St. Bernard. How con- 
temptuous and coarse is St. Odo's estimate of 
woman. Among the few early Christian teachers 
who showed sanity in this respect was Clement of 
Alexandria, who declared: "We should not be 
ashamed to name what God has not been ashamed 
to create." * 

Such contempt for the body, and for the supreme 
function of procreation, would be deemed the 
gravest blasphemy by all devout Hindus and Mo- 
hammedans. "It seems never to have entered the 
heads of the Hindu legislators," said Sir William 
Jones ("Works," Vol. II., p. 311), "that anything 

1 See "Studies in the Psychology of Sex," Vol. VI., 
Havelock Ellis, 



yo WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

natural could be offensively obscene, a singularity 
which pervades all their writings, but is no proof 
of the depravity of their morals." 

R. Schmidt, writing on "Indian Erotics," in 
German, says: "Love in India, both as regards 
theory and practice, possesses an importance which 
it is impossible for us even to conceive." Quite so ; 
the Western point of view is either prudish or pru- 
rient, usually a mixture of both. 

There cannot be the least doubt, when sexual 
love is rightly appraised and respected as a part of 
the scheme of a divine ruler, or of beneficent Na- 
ture, that the relations of men and women are set 
upon a higher psychic level, than when passion 
is associated with uncleanness. Hindu culture 
recognised this in the earliest days. Chastity, pu- 
rity, restraint, were inculcated, and periods of 
ascetic living were commended as beneficial dis- 
cipline. But there was no shirking of the great 
vital questions of sex, and no abuse of processes 
designed by the gods. 

Much of the conjugal serenity and happiness of 
the East is due to the heed devoted by husbands to 
an understanding of sex-love and the psychology 
of woman. Whether we approve polygamy, or 
denounce the practice, the truth remains that the 
men of the East are beloved by their wives, and 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 71 

that married discord is far less frequent than in the 
West. It is easy to attribute this fact to the sub- 
servience of women. We have seen that such sub- 
servience is far more apparent than actual. There 
is hardly a hint of it in the modern Hindu love- 
poetry. 

The point to observe is that the Hindus do not 
contemn any phase of the impulse that unites man 
to woman. They cannot jeer at love, for the whole 
of their religious traditions forbid such profanity. 
To make lovers and love-making a subject for jest- 
ing is impossible. 

In the "Seven Hundred Maxims of Hala" are 
some passages revealing the fervid and passionate 
nature of early Hindu love: — 

"He sees nothing but her face, and she, too, is 
quite intoxicated by his looks. Both, satisfied with 
each other, act as if in the whole world there were 
no other woman or man." 

The following maxim treats of the evanescent 
quality of passion : — 

"Love departs when lovers are separated; it de- 
parts when they see too much of each other; it de- 
parts in consequence of malicious gossip; aye, it 
departs also without these causes." 

On the beauty of women Hindu poets are elo- 
quent. The Lotus Woman, the embodiment of the 



72 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

perfect physical ideal of feminine loveliness, is 
thus described in "The Kama Sutra": — 

"She in whom the following signs and symptoms appear is 
called a Padmini: Her face is pleasing as the full moon, her 
body, well clothed with flesh, is as soft as Shiras or mustard 
flower; her skin is fine, tender, fair as the gum or lotus, never 
dark coloured. Her eyes are bright and beautiful as the orbs 
of the fawn, well cut and with reddish corners. Her bosom is 
hard, full, and high; she has a good neck; her nose is straight 
and lovely. . . . She walks with swan-like (more exactly 
flamingo-like) gait, and her voice is low and musical as the 
note of the Kokila bird (the Indian cuckoo). She delights in 
white raiment, in fine jewels, and in rich dresses. She eats 
little, sleeps lightly, and being as respectful and religious as she 
is clever and courteous, she is ever anxious to worship the gods, 
and to enjoy the conversation of Brahmans. Such, then, is the 
Padmini, or lotus-woman." 

The Hindu woman is usually short, and slight in 
build. Her complexion is a dark brown. In 
Kashmir, the women are taller, and some have 
lighter complexions. The most statuesque forms 
among the women of India are said to be seen in 
Kashmir. 

In most parts the married women have the red 
Kum-Kum mark painted upon the forehead. 

The veil is worn in the North of India, but sel- 
dom among the women of the South. Most of the 
zenanas are in Bengal, Sind, Punjab, and the 
North generally. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 73 

In Ceylon, the women most loved for their 
charms have long plentiful hair, blue eyes, and 
curved eyebrows. The lips should be red, the 
teeth small. Her breasts must be small and firm; 
the hips wide, the limbs tapering, and the skin of 
the body delicate. 2 

This adoration of the beautiful features and 
forms of women is of religious significance in the 
East. Instead of the dread, and frequently the 
repulsion, from feminine grace and loveliness, so 
often expressed by the early Christian writers, the 
Hindus personify Woman as Beauty. Such wor- 
ship is not simply the outcome of sexual desire. It 
is also a poetical, aesthetic valuation of the human 
body. It is the artist's loving appreciation of the 
form of man and woman, the spirit that animates 
Rodin when he confesses that, in his eyes, all 
women are beautiful. 

It is true that woman makes a strong sensuous 
appeal to the Hindu, which he never conceals. 
But we must remember that "the sensual East" is 
also the home of the sternest renunciations of car- 
nal pleasures, the strictest asceticism, the most se- 
vere penances and self-martyrdom ever known 
among humankind. No Western saint ever en- 
dured as much for the welfare of his soul as the 

2 "An Account of the Interior of Ceylon" — Davy. 



74 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

self-imposed torments of the Eastern priests, fakirs, 
and holy men, and women, in the suppression of 
desire. 

It is the white man who is accountable for the in- 
troduction of sexual vices unknown, or rarely 
practised, in the East before his coming. He has 
brought venereal disease, and implanted its mortal 
poisons in the blood of thousands of healthy primi- 
tive people. He has taught unclean vulgarity of 
thought and speech to innocent natives free from 
its taint. He has introduced intoxicating spirits, 
and encouraged their use among sober savages. 
Let the white man pause before he speaks in con- 
demnation of "the abominable sexual practices" of 
the Orient. 

One of the best-informed and most sympathetic 
writers upon Indian life is Mrs. Flora Annie Steel. 
This lady lived for many years in the East, and her 
volume "India" and her novels show how closely 
she has observed the people. Mrs. Steel's testi- 
mony, while it lacks the high enthusiasm of Miss 
Margaret Noble, is still very favourable concern- 
ing the position of Hindu women. She has the 
cosmopolitan, rather than the average Anglo-In- 
dian, outlook. After a diligent reading of this au- 
thor's chapter on Indian women, and other parts 
of her book, one is almost compelled to assent to 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 75 

Miss Noble's view; for very much that Mrs. Steel 
writes supports her compatriot's optimistic vision 
of Hindu life. 

Mrs. Steel says shrewdly that, though the mo- 
nopoly of a man by his wife, as in Western mar- 
riage, is unknown in India, the sons are invariably 
monopolised by the mothers. The maternal au- 
thority is unquestionable and autocratic. In the 
East generally, women are despotic over the men. 3 
Nowhere are men so henpecked as in India. 
Wife-beating is extremely rare, in spite of the as- 
sertiveness of the wives. There seems little doubt 
that the Hindu husband is conspicuous for his 
docility and patience. There are "few happier 
households than Indian ones," says Mrs. Steel. 
Among the Jat and Sikh villagers a charming 
camaraderie prevails between men and women. 
This is often the case where the sexes work side 
by side on an equality. 

Unkindness to children is hardly known. We 
shall note that this virtue of parental love is al- 
most universal in Eastern countries. Divorce is 
practically unknown. To the Hindus marriage is 
a grave and sacred union. In wedlock the hus- 
band is "a perfect prey to his womenfolk, at any 
rate for some years." Surely this statement 

3 Op. cit. Mrs. Steel. 



76 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

should be considered by the critics of Indian mar- 
riage before they lament "the degraded position 
of our Indian sisters." 

"We in the West," writes Mrs. Steel, "are talk- 
ing of discarding marriage, but played in Eastern 
fashion marriage has guarded much that woman 
holds most dear." 

Even the missionaries are bound to acknowledge 
that sexual morality is high in India. Mrs. Steel 
asserts that the standard of national morality is 
"far higher in India than it is in England." In 
Persia and in India the code of sex morals in 
ancient times was almost cruel in its severity. 
The tradition still lives. It is true that mercenary 
commerce of the sexes is practised in the towns, 
but in a far less flagrant and callous manner than 
in the Western civilisations. Seduction is a very 
serious offence in India, and the betrayed girl is 
always acutely distressed. There is, however, 
proper provision for the few children born out of 
marriage. 

In the light of the careful evidence of such an 
authority as Mrs. Steel, it is time for us to recog- 
nize that all the sexual virtues are not restricted to 
the West. It is to be regretted that missionary 
zeal has fostered the view in England that the 
women in India are merely the serfs of sensual, 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 77 

tyrannous men. As Mrs. Steel remarks, we have 
been told by the ordinary Anglo-Indian and the 
missionaries that India is "thoroughly degraded, 
hopelessly, helplessly depraved, and utterly en- 
slaved." Yet, in spite of polygamy, the Hindu 
woman's position compares very favourably with 
that of her Western sisters. 

Mrs. Steel would perhaps go further than this. 
The following extract is from a lecture delivered 
by her: — 

"In an original address on 'The Women of India,' at the 
Manor House Club, Bredon's Norton, yesterday, Mrs. Steel 
championed the superior domestic position of the Indian woman 
as against the European woman. 

"According to Mrs. Steel the Eastern wife has a very easy 
time of it. She does not have to rise to prepare her husband's 
breakfast or that of her children, for the simple reason that 
having supped plentifully they do not require any breakfast 
beyond a chunk of food, to which they help themselves. And 
so throughout the day the Indian woman's domestic duties are 
of the lightest. There are no rooms crowded with furniture 
to sweep and dust, and not even a bed to make, while the cloth- 
ing for the family is too simple to burden the housewife. 

"Touching upon the problems of wifehood and motherhood, 
Mrs. Steel made the bold statement that during her long resi- 
dence in India she had not seen as much matrimonial unhappi- 
ness, even taking polygamy into account, as she had witnessed 
in our own land." — Daily Chronicle. 

I have cited passages from the Hindu sacred 
books and the ancient codes showing that the rights 



78 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

of women were not disregarded in India. The 
following passage is from the "Rigveda": — 

"Though the wife, like the children, was subject 
to the will of her husband, her position was one of 
greater honour in the Rigvedic age than later, for 
she shared with her husband the performance of 
sacrifice. She was mistress of the house, with con- 
trol not only over servants and slaves but also over 
the unmarried brothers and sisters of her husband. 
As the family could only be continued in the male 
line, prayers for abundance of sons are very fre- 
quent. But the birth of daughters is never desired 
in the Rigveda; it is deprecated in the Atharva- 
veda; the Yajurveda refers to girls being exposed 
when born; and one of the Brahmanas observes 
that 'to have a daughter is a misery. 7 This prej- 
udice survives in India to the present day with un- 
abated force." 4 

Gyanendra Kumar Ray Chaudhuri, writing on 
"Hindu Love," says : — 

"The primitive civilization and crude morality of the less 
advanced and educated Hindu are far better than any form of 
Western civilization. There is much in the East which the 
West should do well to adopt. Among the Hindus conjugal 
union is a thing to be kept inviolate as a sacred tie not to be 
dissolved even by death. The so-called emancipated and en- 
lightened females should learn from their benighted sisters how 

4 "Imp. Gazetteer of India," 1908. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 79 

sacred the relation is between husband and wife. In the esti- 
mation of the Hindu female it is invested with a heavenly- 
grandeur which passes all description." 

The same author writes of Hindu women : — 
"Their chastity, their devotion, their love, are 
admired by all sensible men." 

Many of the Hindu classic poets and romance 
writers extol passionate love, and marriage for 
love alone, which proves that, in the old days, more 
freedom of choice was permitted to lovers. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE ZENANA 

The princely harems of India rival in magnifi- 
cence those of Egypt and Turkey. 1 When an ex- 
king of Oude was awarded a mighty revenue from 
his kingdom, as a pension from the English, he 
built a miniature walled city on the Hooghly. 
Here he ruled over several thousand subjects, and 
held a stately court. His chief wives were two in 
number, and he had thirty-nine inferior wives, 
called Mahuls, "bearers of children." Besides 
these women, the ex-sovereign owned one hundred 
Begums. His family consisted of thirty-one sons 
and twenty-five daughters; fifty-six children, and 
all of them living. 

This potentate's stipend of £10,000 a month was 
inadequate. He was always in debt. His palaces 
were from three to four, and he occupied them 
alternately. Surrounding the royal residences was 
one of the finest menageries in the world. There 
were "20,000 birds, beasts and snakes," and in the 
tank were numerous kinds of fish. The pigeons 

1 The term zenana is derived from the Persian zan, meaning 

woman. 
80 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 81 

alone numbered 18,000. The monarch who pre- 
sided here, li r ie Solomon in all his glory, had 
artistic taste. He painted pictures and composed 
songs for the nautch girls, who sang them in all 
parts of India. He had a troupe of dancers, and 
an orchestra of musicians. Such was the splen- 
dour of this deposed king's harem and estates, in 
1874, as described by Mr. James Routledge, in his 
volume on "English Rule and Native Opinion in 
India." 

"And all this House of love was peopled fair 
With sweet attendance, so that in each part 
With lovely sights were gentle faces found, 
Soft speech and willing service; each one glad 
To gladden, pleased at pleasure, proud to obey; 
Till life glided beguiled, like a smooth stream. 

*afe jit *4t *li s&l 

7!C vflT vj» 7f* Tgi 

"And night and day served there a chosen band 
Of nautch-girls, cup-bearers, and cymballers, 
Delicate, dark-browed ministers of love, 
Who fanned the sleeping eyes of the happy Prince, 
And when he waked, led back his thoughts to bliss 
With music whispering through the blooms, and charm 
Of amorous songs and dreamy dances, linked 
By chime of ankle-bells and wave of arms 
And silver-vina-strings ; while essences 
Of musk and champak, and the blue haze spread 

2 From burning spices, soothed his soul again." 

The "sheltered life," so enthusiastically com- 
2 "The Light of Asia."— Sir Edwin Arnold. 



82 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

mended by my lady friend, is, of course, very al- 
luring to many women when lived under such luxu- 
rious conditions as those related in Sir Edwin 
Arnold's poem. Numbers of women in the West 
would enjoy this indolent, secure, and voluptuous 
existence. 

As a matter of fact, there are American women 
living in Indian zenanas. They have renounced 
the Christian faith, embraced Hinduism, and be- 
come entirely Oriental in their lives and practices. 
I know an English professional dancer, who in- 
formed me that several friends, in her profession, 
have entered Turkish harems. One of these girls 
describes the life as "delightful." .She is richly 
fed, beautifully dressed, and has an ample income 
and her own apartments. This immunity from the 
strife of maintaining life appeals powerfully to 
women of a fairly numerous class. They desire 
neither "economic independence," nor "emancipa- 
tion." In the West they marry for comfort and 
ease; in the East they welcome the chance of en- 
tering the harem. 

Let us understand quite clearly that polygamous 
marriage in the Indian Empire is chiefly the prac- 
tice of the influential and wealthy classes, and that 
it is far from general, even amongst the rich Mo- 
hammedans and Brahmins. The soudras (work- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 83 

ing class of low castes) and the poorer folk are 
almost entirely monogamous. But it is a monog- 
amy differing essentially from that of Christian 
countries. 

The legal and religious single marriage of Eng- 
land is an enduring link that can only be severed by 
divorce. Legal separation is an incomplete dis- 
solution, inasmuch as the sundered persons can- 
not enter into marriage. In Catholic nations the 
tie is still more difficult to loosen. In India 
divorce is easy. You may, if you choose, engage 
in a succession of monogamous unions, without for- 
feiting social esteem, or infringing the principles 
of your creed. 

Facility of divorce does not tend naturally to 
inconstancy, in spite of all that is said to the con- 
trary by those who oppose it. In Burma, for ex- 
ample, divorce is a simple and speedy process; but 
such separation between the married is rare. 
There is a reason for this comparative rarity of 
divorce in the East, and especially among the 
upper classes. When a man has four legal wives, 
and a number of secondary spouses, entirely at his 
disposal, he is apt to overlook, or to deal leniently, 
with the faults of one of his chief wives. 

A discontented husband, under the monogamic 
sway, sometimes seeks love, or the gratification of 



84 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

sexual passion, outside of the home. Often he 
maintains a second house, and lives a double life, 
or he frequents the company of demi-mondaines. 
There is a high scarcity value in sex in the West. 
This is almost unknown in the East, where every- 
one is enjoined to marry. If one wife in the harem 
is fractious and unmanageable, there are three 
others who may be amiable and amenable. There 
is no strong incentive to wander. Besides, has not 
a rajah a troupe of dancing girls and slaves as well? 
All of these dependents are at his command. 

The Eastern servant has no higher ambition than 
to become an ikbal, or favourite, of her master. 
She ceases then to be a serf ; she has a status, rights, 
and property of her own. When she bears a child, 
she is for ever a free woman. She can enforce 
her master to maintain her and the children. If 
she becomes a wife, and the husband desires to 
disavow her, he is bound to make her a substantial 
allowance for life. 

Divorce may be easy, but responsibility does not 
end with mere repudiation of a wife. It is a tax 
upon a rajah's income when he has to support a 
number of divorced wives and their families. 
Therefore, though total separation is apparently 
facile under polygamy, it is not quite so simple as 
it seems at first glance. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 85 

In a case of dissolution of marriage, a man must 
prove that his wife has been guilty of one or more 
of the following offences : Adultery, disobedience, 
bad temper. Ill health is a cause for divorce, and 
so is barrenness. If a woman gives birth only to 
female infants during ten years, the husband may 
discharge her. But on whatever pretext, and 
through whatever fault, a woman is divorced, she 
has always a claim for proper maintenance. 

In the ancient days in India, plurality of wives 
was far commoner than at the present time. 
Among the Hindu religionists it is not usual to 
find two women living as the wives of one man. 
The people of India are not generally polygamous 
in the strict sense. Polygamy is the privilege of 
the rich, but many of the wealthy are married to 
only one wife. This fact must be recognised, for 
there are people in Great Britain and America who 
refer to the polygamy of Indians as though the 
whole nation practised this form of marriage. 

Polygamy is allowed by religion, law, and public 
opinion. The great Dasaratha, the father of 
Rama, was said to own 60,000 women. Kings, 
princes, and noble personages used to maintain 
large harems. Every woman, from the favourite 
wife to the lowest slave-girl, might be the sexual 
consort of her lord if he so desired. There was the 



86 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

fullest outlet for the variety impulse of affluent 
men. 

Sivaji, the Maharajah, married as many as 
eighteen women in a single day. This was, how- 
ever, due to a curious error. The ruler wished a 
wife for himself, and partners for some of his 
courtiers. A number of beautiful maidens were 
selected, and brought to the palace under the mis- 
apprehension that they were all destined to share 
the great man's favour. Upon discovering their 
mistake, the girls broke into lamentations and dis- 
played the utmost disappointment. Sivaji, being 
a chivalrous and kindly man, thereupon deter- 
mined to marry the whole bevy of virgins. 

An understanding of the Indian character is im- 
possible unless we appreciate the great importance 
that eroticism plays in the life of the East. In 
England the average man, and the great mass of 
women, fear voluptuousness almost as they fear sin. 
Climate has some influence in this alleged indiffer- 
ence to sensual pleasure; but religion and tradition 
have probably a much weightier sway. We know 
perfectly well that almost every conceivable form 
of gross sensuality is practised among the North- 
ern and the Western races. But we lift our eyes 
piously, and affect horror at legalised polygamy, a 
time-honoured religious form of marriage in the 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 87 

East, permitted by a noble reformer, the Prophet 
Mohammed, and by the great spiritual teachers 
of Hinduism. 

Uncontrolled indulgence is without question 
disastrous to the individual and the race. Let us 
not, however, fall into the error of assuming that 
the Oriental attitude towards sex, with its frank- 
ness, and joyous acceptation of all that is good in 
the physical expression of love, is of the same 
quality as the cold lasciviousness and obscenity that 
so often distinguishes Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon 
ideas of sexual passion. 

Phallicism reverenced sex as a symbol of the 
whole of life, of increase, and of good. To-day 
men mock ignorantly at the images and signs of 
this ancient cult. There is a deplorable tendency 
to confuse beautiful symbols with the vulgar por- 
nography of corrupt modern cities. Such vul- 
garity is foreign to the Eastern mind. Freedom 
of conversation does not necessarily spell inde- 
cency, though imperfectly educated people in the 
West seem to think so. Christianity, as ex- 
pounded by the Fathers and the ascetic saints, be- 
smirched love and sex so completely and ruthlessly 
that we have never succeeded in cleansing our 
thoughts upon the great and solemn motor-force of 
the world. 



88 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

The Oriental may be in some cases too much 
preoccupied with the physical phases of sex-love. 
At all events, his preoccupation is open and 
avowed, and not concealed, and hypocritically de- 
nied. Behind all this interest in love, there is a 
deep esteem for the procreative power, whence 
springs most, if not indeed all, of the nobler human 
aspirations and virtues. 

What may be called justly a sanction for a culti- 
vated eroticism is to be found in the religious 
creeds of the Eastern world. 

Hindu sacred writings do not leave out of ac- 
count the relations of the sexes. They contain ex- 
plicit teaching upon the bodily conjugal rites, 
often expressed in beautiful and reverential 
phrases. Nothing could be purer, more lofty and 
poetical, than some of the counsels to husbands and 
wives, to fathers and mothers. Several writers on 
Indian life refer to "indecent pictures" on the 
walls of temples. One of these observers is, how- 
ever, bound to admit that the paintings are "not 
licentious." The average traveller does not stay 
to inquire into the symbolism of such pictures. 
He immediately associates them with Western 
ideas of propriety and concludes that their sole 
purpose is to amuse or to shock. This is a very 
ignorant appraisement. It recalls the furtive 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 89 

chuckle of a lout in the contemplation of a superb 
painting of a nude figure in one of our public 
museums. 

Polygamy is closely connected with the sacred 
erotic conceptions of the Eastern mind. Woman 
in India is beloved and desired, as she is in Eng- 
land, for her physical grace and loveliness, as well 
as for her virtue, sweetness, and gentleness of heart. 
She is a symbol, a principle, a half-divine being. 
There is magic in her. Endless are the taboos sur- 
rounding her sex. The curse of a woman is ter- 
rible. Her kiss is a benediction to the warrior. 
She is exalted as a goddess. As Sakti, represent- 
ing the female principle, she is deeply revered and 
loved. 

These facts should cause us to reconsider all our 
preconceived notions about "the degradation of the 
Eastern woman." Let us try earnestly to compre- 
hend the Hindu point of view regarding women. 
In all parts of the world woman stands for the 
Incomprehensible, the mysterious. "Souvent 
femme varie" has given rise to a fervent, bewil- 
dered, masculine attention. The Hindus, perhaps 
more than any other race, have shown a great 
curiosity and awe concerning the female sex. 
Woman is highly susceptible to religious ecstasy. 
She is a stoical martyr under such stimulus. Her 



90 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

nervous organisation and her sex function cause 
weird manifestations. 

Under certain conditions her touch is baneful ; at 
others it is beneficent. According to a primitive 
legend woman was stung by a snake, and has never 
recovered from the sting. Maternity invested her 
with something mysterious, which must be deeply 
respected. In ancient times, she was the most fit- 
ting of human sacrifices to the gods. 



CHAPTER VIII 

HINDU WOMEN AND THE SACRED BOOKS 

The position of women in all countries is largely 
determined by the teaching of the prevailing faith. 
In the monogamous Christian nations, the social 
and marital status of women is due chiefly to the 
precepts of St. Paul and the ascetic Fathers. 
Hindu women owe their position principally to 
the elaborate counsels and rules laid down by 
Vishnu and Manu. Indian sacred writings abound 
with the most explicit commands upon the rela- 
tions of the sexes. 

Manu fears woman as all men fear an over- 
whelming fascination. He desires that she should 
be justly and kindly treated. The necessity for 
her protection is constantly urged upon men. 
"Dependence" is a word that arouses revolt in the 
breasts of those earnest European claimants for 
women's rights, who write, and lecture, and agitate. 
But the Hindu woman likes to be protected. 

Thus speaks Manu: — 

"Day and night women must be kept in dependence by the 
males of their families, and if they attach themselves to sensual 
enjoyments, they must be kept under control." 

91 



92 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

"Her father protects her in childhood, her husband protects 
her in youth, and her sons protect her in old age. A woman 
is never fit for independence." 

"He who carefully guards his wife, preserves the purity of 
his offspring, virtuous conduct, his family, himself, and his 
means of acquiring merit." 

"No man can completely guard women by force; but they 
can be guarded by the employment of the following expedients: 
Let the husband employ his wife in the collection ancl expendi- 
ture of his wealth, in keeping everything clean, in the fulfilment 
of religious duties, in the preparation of his food, and in look- 
ing after the household utensils." 

"Drinking spirituous liquor, associating with wicked people, 
separation from husband, rambling abroad, sleeping at unsea- 
sonable hours, and dwelling in other men's houses, are the six 
causes of the ruin of women." 

"When creating them Manu allotted to women a love of 
their bed, of their seat, and of ornament, impure desires, wrath, 
dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct." 

The following laws relate to the separation of 
the married : — 

"For one year let a husband bear with a wife who hates 
him, but after the lapse of a year let him deprive her of her 
property and cease to cohabit with her." 

"She who shows disrespect to a husband, who is addicted 
to some evil passion, is a drunkard, or diseased, shall be de- 
serted for three months and be deprived of her ornaments and 
furniture." 

"But she who shows aversion towards a mad or outcast 
husband, a eunuch, one destitute of manly strength, or one 
afflicted with such disease as punish crimes, shall neither be 
cast off nor be deprived of her property." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 93 

In "The Institutes of Vishnu" there are a num- 
ber of clauses relating to marriage. A man is for- 
bidden to marry a woman of a lower caste. No 
woman having six fingers can be married, nor one 
having lost one of her limbs. 

There is a curious prohibition against marriage 
with a woman of decidedly red hair. Light, or 
golden, hair is, of course, extremely uncommon 
among the dark-skinned races. The blonde is not 
fitted to survive in very hot countries, nor, it is said, 
in highly-civilised states. A distrust of persons 
with red hair is fairly common in many countries. 
Certain specific physiological, moral, and mental 
characteristics are supposed to accompany red 
hair. Generally-speaking, red hair is not ad- 
mired by the uneducated classes, but it is some- 
times highly attractive to men of the artistic type. 

It would seem, from the proscription against 
marrying red-haired women, that an ancient pre- 
judice existed in India regarding the hair so much 
admired by many of the old Italian painters. 

The Hindu prefers the woman "robed in the 
long night of her deep hair." He looks upon red 
hair as abnormal among the women of his race, 
and the abnormal is often dreaded and disliked in 
other countries besides India. As the Hindus ad- 
mire soft and silky hair, we can, in part, trace here 



94 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the prejudice against auburn hair, which is usually 
dry and coarse to the touch. 

Finally, Vishnu forbids marriage with a woman 
who "talks idly." 

The stigma of virginity must be removed as soon 
as possible after a girl attains to the function of 
womanhood. If no man chooses her within three 
months, she is at liberty to make her choice. 

We will now survey some of "The Duties of a 
Woman," according to Vishnu. 

To live in harmony with her husband. 

To show reverence (by embracing their feet and such-like 
attentions) to her mother-in-law, father-in-law, to Gurus (such 
as elders), to divinities, and to guests. 

To keep household articles (such as the winnowing basket 
and the rest) in good array. 

To maintain saving habits. 

To be careful with her pestle and mortar and other domestic 
utensils. 

Not to practise incantations with roots, or other kinds of 
witchcraft. 

To observe auspicious customs. 

Not to decorate herself with ornaments, or to partake of 
amusements, while her husband is absent from home. 

Not to resort to the houses of strangers 'during the absence 
of her husband. 

Not to stand near the doorway or by the windows of her 
house. 

Not to act by herself in any matter. 

To remain subject, in her infancy, to her father; in her 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 95 

youth to her husband; and in her old age to her sons. After 
the death of her husband to preserve her chastity, or to ascend 
the pile after him. 

No sacrifice, no penance, and no feasting allowed to women 
apart from their husbands; to pay obedience to her lord is the 
only means for a woman to obtain bliss in heaven. 

A woman who keeps a fast or performs a penance in the 
lifetime of her lord, deprives her husband of his life, and will 
go to hell. 

The following advice to would-be husbands is 
from the "Upanishads." 

"She is the best of women whose garments are pure. There- 
fore let him approach a woman whose garments are pure, and 
whose fame is pure, and address her." 

"If she do not give in, let him, as he likes, bribe her with 
presents. And if she then do not give in, let him, as he likes, 
beat her with a stick, or with his hand overcome her, saying: 
'With my manly strength and glory I take away thy glory,' 
and thus she becomes unglorious." 

"If she gives in, he says: 'With manly strength and glory 
I give thee glory,' and then they both become glorious." 

Are these ordinances obeyed to the letter? We 
may decide that some laxity is as permissible to 
the Hindu woman who reads Vishnu's "Institutes," 
as to her British sister who is acquainted with the 
Pauline Epistles. It is fairly evident, from all 
that we hear of the present position of the women 
of India, that neither Manu or Vishnu are invari- 
ably accepted quite literally. 

In most of the extracts that I have given, from 



96 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the "Laws of Manu" and "The Institutes of 
Vishnu," the bias seems undoubtedly to the advan- 
tage of men. But elsewhere in these pages I have 
quoted passages from Hindu literature which 
reveal rather less of the patriarchal spirit. And 
I am sure that Dr. Coomaraswamy would tell me 
that no clause in these codes militates directly 
against the highest interests of women. 

Woman everywhere, even in polyandrous tribes, 
is a subject of inhibitions, restrictions, and customs 
arising from her sex and her great office as mother. 
In England, as Tennyson wrote, she is "cramped 
under worse than South Sea isle taboo." Is 
woman more "cramped" in our Indian Empire? 
The answer must be that, in some respects, women 
enjoy a better social and family standing in India 
than they do amongst ourselves. 

"Seclusion," which is so repugnant to the West- 
ern woman's mind, is very different from the isola- 
tion of women in England. It is a seclusion in an 
atmosphere of love, conjugal and parental. The 
lot of the English single woman is frequently one 
of loveless seclusion. Numberless are the unmar- 
ried women of our own country who live in un- 
avowed revolt against the deprivation of love. 
For every Hindu woman there is a husband, and, 
in most marriages, a strong and abiding love. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE DISABILITIES OF INDIAN WOMEN 

A DISTINGUISHED Indian poetess, Mrs. Sarojini 
Naidu, who is in England while I write these 
lines, is known amongst us as an ardent pioneer of 
a women's movement in her own country. This 
cultured lady has written two volumes of poems, 
in the English language, entitled "The Golden 
Threshold" and "The Bird of Time." She is an 
eloquent public speaker, temperate, earnest, and 
thoughtful. 

Mrs. Naidu says that "Indian womanhood is 
feeling, as it were, the ripple of the world move- 
ment, and it awakes noble echoes from the past." 
This writer thinks that Hindu women have lost a 
glorious past inheritance: "Ours is an absolutely 
unbroken tradition, overlaid and obscured, but 
still so real that it has prevented the raising of any- 
thing like the sex-barrier I find in England. We 
are not pioneers, but reawakeners." 

Mrs. Naidu's ideal of freedom for women is not 
the winning of political powers through the 
franchise, but "a social and intellectual existence, 
equal to, while different from, that of men." She 

97 



98 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

states that educated men in India, both Hindus and 
Mohammedans, are giving attentive heed to the 
claims of women. 

In the "Laws of Manu," the "Maxims of Hala," 
and in other Indian writings, sacred and secular, 
we discover here and there a foreshadowing of the 
modern ideal of romantic love. Accretions in be- 
lief and doctrine, and probably the introduction of 
polygamy, the immolation of widows, and the pre- 
cedence given to sons before daughters, obscured 
much of this ancient Aryan idealism, and weak- 
ened the position of women. More submission 
was inculcated to women; there arose practices 
that give evidence of a growth of the patriarchal 
system in family life, with a lessening of women's 
liberty and opportunity for freedom of social com- 
panionship with men. 

Miss Margaret Noble and Dr. Ananda Coom- 
araswamy, whose opinions I have quoted, up- 
hold, with fervour and admiration, the caste 
system, and practically the whole of Hindu cus- 
toms relating to marriage and women. There are 
institutions to which they scarcely allude. They 
are naturally anxious to prove a case, and I must 
admit that, to a great extent, they succeed in their 
object. 

Yet if we turn to the Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 99 

for enlightenment as to the condition of women in 
India, we shall learn that there are flagrant im- 
perfections in the marriage laws. This Indian 
lady has drawn up an indictment in a little vol- 
ume, called "The High Caste Hindu Woman." 
Her criticism deserves our attention as represent- 
ing at any rate the earnest opinions of an educated 
native woman, who desires the highest well-being 
for her sisters. 

One of the wrongs of women in India, whether 
living in monogamous marriage or in the zenana, 
lies in the disability of the mother who bears only 
daughters. We have been assured that India is a 
country where women are held in the highest es- 
teem. How is it, then, that the female infant is 
unwelcomed by the fathers? Surely, in a society 
that reveres womanhood and maternity, the poten- 
tial mother should be almost sacred. 

According to the Pundita Sarasvati such respect 
for the girl-baby is never expressed. On the con- 
trary, there are many mothers who look upon the 
birth of a girl as a great calamity. Such a mis- 
fortune is a source of the keenest chagrin in the 
father, who is apparently moved to resentment 
against the mother. 

The Hindu wife who has brought a son into ex- 
istence is regarded with the husband's favour, 



ioo WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

while she who produces a daughter appears to earn 
his reprobation. So powerful is the longing for 
male children that Hindu women employ many 
spells in the hope of conceiving sons. The son- 
giving gods are invoked with an anxious fervour. 
Is it not possible that this anxiety in the mind of 
a pregnant woman may have an injurious influ-, 
ence on her offspring? I know that this is a sub- 
ject of controversy. But it seems to me that such 
solicitude cannot fail to affect the health of the 
mother, and that her state may react upon the un- 
born child. 

The unwanted daughter in India is an object for 
pity. She is even in some families upbraided by 
her parents for being a girl. A wife, asked if she 
has children, will reply, "I have nothing"; and 
"nothing" means a girl. The Pundita, whom I 
am quoting, describes the lives of many girls as 
terribly unhappy through the stigma of their sex. 
She says that brothers frequently despise their 
sisters. 

The Hindu Scriptures, like the Christian Bible, 
contain statements that often appear highly con- 
tradictory. We have read passages from the 
sacred books of India extolling women and the 
mother. But the "Laws of Manu" contain this 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 101 

sentence: "Of dishonour woman is the cause; of 
enmity woman is the cause ; of mundane existence 
woman is the cause; hence woman is to be 
avoided." 

Again, in a Hindu proverb, we read:— 

"Woman is a great whirlpool of suspicion; a 
dwelling place of vices; full of deceits; a hind- 
rance in the way of heaven ; the gate of hell." 

This likening of woman to the "gate of hell" 
recalls some of the denunciations of the Christian 
Fathers of a much later date. 

Being born a girl is almost a misdemeanour. 
The penalty overshadows and darkens the whole 
life until, perchance, redemption comes with the 
birth of a son. We begin to understand why in- 
fanticide was formerly so common in India, and 
why it still survives in some parts of the country. 
One writer says that Hindu women often threw 
their female children into the river, to preserve 
them from the hard fate awaiting them in life. 

Barrenness is a grievous trial to a Hindu woman, 
imposing very serious social disabilities, including 
divorce. Numberless are the invocations, the 
spells, the incantations, and the mystical devices 
resorted to by women of the East as a cure for 
sterility. So great is the dread of inf ecundity that, 



102 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

throughout the Orient, women, whether married 
or single, adopt the most extravagant methods to 
ensure child-bearing. 

Mr. E. S. Hartland, in his excellent and thor- 
ough investigation of "Primitive Paternity," has 
gathered together a number of the practices of In- 
dian women. In Bombay a sterile woman will 
cut off a piece of the end of a robe of a fruitful 
woman as an amulet; or she will "steal a new-born 
infant's shirt, steep one end of it in water, drink 
the water, and destroy the shirt. The child to 
whom the clothing belonged would then die and 
be born again from the womb of the woman per- 
forming the ceremony." 

Embracing the image of the god representing 
fertility, a very old and common custom, is still 
practised by women in India. All over the coun- 
try there are figures, and even unshaped stones, 
alleged to impart fruitfulness to women. 

The yearning for male children induces Hindu 
women to perform several, ceremonies. In the 
third month of pregnancy, according to the 
Grikya-Sutvas, the husband who desires a son 
should administer to his wife curds from a cow, 
which has a calf of the same colour as herself, con- 
taining two beans and a barleycorn for each hand- 
ful of curds. The man says to the woman: 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 103 

"What dost thou drink?" To this she answers: 
"Generation of a male child." When the potion, 
the questions, and the responses have been repeated 
three times, the husband inserts in the wife's right 
nostril the juice of a fresh herb." 1 

Walking round the sacred fire is another rite 
said to induce conception. It is practised by the 
Brahmans of Dharwar, while a priest recites a 
hymn. 

The destruction of girls by the hands of their 
mothers is not sanctioned by religion; but public 
opinion and the law are not severe in regard to the 
practice. Many children of the female sex dis- 
appear; "they have been taken by wild animals." 
In 1870, three hundred girls from the town of 
Umritzar were carried away by wolves. 2 

1 Quoted by Hartland from the "Sacred Books." 
2 E. S. Hartland, in "Primitive Paternity," writes: — "In 
the Panjab, Hindu women who lose a female child during 
infancy, or while it still sucks milk, take it into the jungle and 
put it in a sitting position under a tree. Sugar is put into its 
mouth and a corded roll of cotton between its fingers. Then 
the mother says in Panjabi — 

'Eat the sugar ; spin the cotton ; 
Don't come back, but send a brother.' 

If on the following day it be found that the dogs or jackals 
have dragged the body towards the mother's house, she con- 
siders it a bad omen, saying: 'Ah! she is coming back — that 



io 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

"Let thy mother be to thee like unto a God." 
Notwithstanding, sorrow is the lot of the woman 
who is sterile, or who brings forth only girls. For 
her there is no adoration. 

Child-marriage is another evil indicted by the 
Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati. This is one of the 
practices difficult to reconcile with the Hindu re- 
gard for the welfare of women. Dr. Coomaras- 
wamy refers very briefly to the custom, and regrets 
that it still exists. I think I am right in saying 
that Miss Noble scarcely touches on the ethics 
of child-marriage in "The Web of Indian 
Life." 

No choice in love is permitted to a Hindu 
maiden. Apologists for the marriage of arrange- 
ment explain that courtship begins after union, 
and that wooing usually ends with wedlock in the 
Western nations. This may be true in part; but 
the risk of incompatibility, or of sheer maladapta- 
tion, is very great when no selection whatever has 
been exercised by the contracting partners in con- 
jugality. 

In the case of a girl of nine years, taken as a 
wife, and kept by the bridegroom's mother until 
the nubile age, there is a chance of opportunities 

means another girl.' But if it be dragged away from the 
home, she is glad, saying: 'The brother will come.'" 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 105 

for learning something of a husband's character 
before the physical consummation. That is the 
only kind of courtship before wedlock. 

In Bengal conjugal union with quite young chil- 
dren is still practised. Manu directs that girls of 
eight may be married, and that is the earliest age 
permissible. It is the usual custom to defer ac- 
tual marriage until the bride has reached the 
period of puberty, which is usually supposed to 
occur at an earlier age in the East than in the West. 
There are, however, recorded cases of the mar- 
riage of girls under ten. 

In 1890, fifty-five lady doctors petitioned the 
Viceroy and the Governor-General of India for 
an Act deferring the marriage of girls until the 
age of fourteen. Thirteen terrible instances of 
physical injury inflicted upon children, through 
premature union, were set down in the petition. 
In one case a child of seven died three days after 
the marriage ceremony. 

In ancient times in India, it was decreed that 
husbands who cohabited with wives under ten 
years of age, with or without their consent, should 
be guilty of rape, and sentenced to life-long ban- 
ishment, or imprisonment for ten years. 3 The age 

3 "A Practical View of the Age of Consent/' 
Pamphlet, Calcutta, 1891. 



106 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

of consummation was raised, some years ago, to 
twelve. 

Mrs. Pechey Phipson, M.D., in an "Address to 
the Hindoos of Bombay on the Subject 
of Child-marriage," said that Indian girls 
are not physically adapted for maternity even 
when they have reached puberty. "A Hindoo 
girl of fifteen is about the equal of an English girl 
of eleven, instead of the reverse." 

Premature marriage of girl-children is not re- 
stricted to India. It was practised in England in 
the time of Elizabeth ; for an Act of her reign per- 
mitted legal wedlock with a child of ten. The 
marriageable age among the Esquimaux and other 
primitive peoples is frequently as early as in 
India. 

The Pundita Sarasvati states that young wives 
are sometimes flogged by their husbands. This 
is, however, by no means a distinctly Eastern prac- 
tice. Wife-beating is fairly common in almost 
every part of the world, and is practised with 
greater frequency in England than many persons 
imagine. 

Medical science in India is in a backward state, 
although the treatment of disease is receiving more 
study, and modern methods are being introduced. 
The Pundita says that, through incapable treat- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 107 

ment, a very large number of women die in India, 
and she attributes the high female mortality to this 
cause. 

An instance of the conservative spirit of Hin- 
duism has arisen lately (1913). The suffering 
woman of high caste runs the risk of grave re- 
ligious and social censure if she undergoes an op- 
eration for the cure of a serious malady. Thus, 
the Maharanee of Indore had to come to England 
for an operation for appendicitis, and it is said 
that she incurred blame for breaking away from 
the tradition forbidding such relief. 

This interdiction will probably disappear in the 
future. It affords an example of the apparently 
contradictory and inconsistent attitude of the In- 
dian mind respecting the protection of women. A 
husband may not eat with his wife, nor see her tak- 
ing a meal. She is encompassed by pious cere- 
mony and ritual ; and respect and even honour are 
accorded to her. But she must not be profaned 
by the touch of a man-surgeon, though her life is 
in peril. These anomalies in the treatment of 
Hindu women appear highly singular to Western 
people, who tend to outgrow their traditions more 
easily than the Orientals. Modern science, with 
its hostility to belief in fables, superstitions, and 
magic, is not in harmony with the credulous, im- 



108 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

aginative Hindu outlook and veneration for old 
customs. 

The position of widows is as unfortunate as that 
of childless women, or the mothers of girls. 
There are millions of widows in India, many of 
them young, and well constituted for remarriage 
and the functions of motherhood. Hinduism for- 
bids the second union, though the law is being 
modified. A girl widowed at eighteen must re- 
main celibate for the rest of her life. Judged 
from a racial hygienic standpoint alone, this re- 
striction is injurious. The enforcement of widow- 
hood for the whole of the puerperal life of a wife, 
whose husband has died while she was barely a 
woman, is, in both an individual and social sense, 
open to numerous objections. 

Miss Noble might contend that the widow is 
perfectly resigned to her celibacy; that she is more 
than content in her loneliness. She is "a sacred 
mystery." Does this reflection console the mate- 
less woman, left as a "child-widow" through the 
death of her betrothed? 4 

No doubt many widows in India are reconciled 

4 According to Dubois ("Hindu Manners") "the bare men- 
tion of a second marriage for a Hindu woman would be con- 
sidered the greatest insult. She would be hunted out of society, 
and no decent person would venture at any time to have the 
slightest intercourse with her." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 109 

to their fate by the sainthood that the decease of a 
husband confers upon them. Maybe, numerous 
bereaved women experience pride in the honour 
shown to them by the traveller, who prostrates 
himself before them, and allows the dust of her 
feet to settle upon him as a benison. Our sympa- 
thy is not with these, but with the woman to whom 
love, a husband, and a family stand for all that is 
most desirable and precious in life. 

Mrs. Krishnarao Bholanath Divatia, who con- 
tributes a section on "The Hindu Woman" to the 
volume "India," says that the condition of widows 
has been much misstated by foreign writers. She 
alludes to the happiness of Indian family life, and 
states that the widows are much honoured, espe- 
cially if they are the mothers of sons. The re- 
marriage of widows is now permitted by law in 
the Empire of India. It is not, however, popular, 
though it will no doubt become so. The same 
writer declares that polygamy is less fashionable 
than it was some years ago, and that educated men 
are opposed to the practice. 

Her Highness the Maharani of Baroda pleads 
earnestly for the introduction of those British in- 
stitutions to India that will be likely to benefit 
women. She gives a review of various employ- 
ments which might be followed by her Hindu sis- 



no WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

ters. Her book "The Position of Women in In- 
dian Life," has somewhat more of the spirit of the 
West than the East. Mr. S. M. Mitra, the well- 
known writer on Indian life, is very emphatic, in 
his introduction to the volume, concerning the 
need for reform. 

"India must learn Western ways and keep pace 
with the West, or she must go to the wall. India 
must assimilate Western ways. Blind imitation 
will not do. The Indian must try to harmonize 
Eastern practice with Western civilisation." 

An industrialised, commercialised India is ap- 
parently the ideal of the Western reformers. It 
is not the ideal of cultivated Hindu minds. We 
may admit that the East will profit by the example 
of the West in certain directions. But it is a 
lamentable fact that the implanting of Western 
virtues in Indian soil is accompanied by a crop of 
vices. "It is terrible to see how demoralizing our 
contact is to all sorts and conditions of men," says 
the author of "The Soul of a People." 

On the other hand, the lady doctors of the Duf- 
ferin Association have rendered splendid service 
to Indian women and children. There is a very 
high rate of mortality among mothers and infants, 
due to careless treatment by native medical prac- 
titioners and midwives. Puerperal fever is com- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY in 

mon, and often proves fatal. The deaths in child- 
bed are numerous. 

"In Berar one-sixth, and in Bibar mainly one- 
fifth of the total number of females under ten are 
married." 5 The union is not very often consum- 
mated physically at this early age, but it is fre- 
quently consummated too soon for the well-being 
of the mother and her child. This marriage of 
immature girls is a drain on the vigour of the race, 
and is the cause of much suffering and illness. 
Procreative vigour declines somewhat quickly 
through misuse in adolescence. The menopause 
occurs earlier in Indian women than among the 
women of the West. 

Hindu opinion concerning the disabilities under 
which women suffer in India is plainly expressed 
by a native writer Babu Nand Lai Ghose (Nan- 
datela Ghosa) of Lahore. 6 This reformer has ab- 
sorbed Western influence. While he professes the 
utmost admiration for the many virtues of Hindu 
women, he deplores their limited lives, their con- 
jugal inequality, and their defective education. 

"Young India talks of political slavery, of 
foreign despotism, and of the British yoke, but 
these, if they really exist, are nothing in compari- 

5 "Imperial Gazetteer of India," 1908. 
6 "A Guide for Indian Females from Infancy to Old Age." 



ii2 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

son with the despotism incarnate which rules the 
family life of the people, and until they reform 
that family life they will not be worthy to call for 
and to receive political freedom." 

Nand Lai Ghose takes a Bengali woman as a 
type representing the indifferent social status of 
the Indian wife. 

This writer gives a picture of the whole career 
of a Hindu woman from her birth in the zenana 
to old age. He asserts that children are brought 
into the world without adequate medical assist- 
ance. The midwives are chiefly of the low caste, 
and they are old women who know scarcely any- 
thing of maternity treatment. They occupy, how- 
ever, an important position in India, and are called 
"second mothers." Many infants die through de- 
fective attention and a lack of knowledge of chil- 
dren's ailments. 

The mother is convalescent for thirty-one days 
after the birth of her child. She then undergoes a 
ceremony, and is allowed to leave her couch. The 
suckling of infants is prolonged. 

The Babu Ghose writes that Hindu girls are 
brought up strictly and practically secluded. 
Their diversions are few. They are fond of dolls, 
and they play at doll weddings. The Indian girl is 
capable of very warm friendships with girl com- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 113 

panions. She goes to school, but the period of 
education is too short, as she usually marries before 
she is eighteen. At sixteen years of age, she is 
often already a mother. The girls of respectable 
families are not allowed to sing or dance, but some- 
times they imitate the dancing of the nautch girls. 
Dancing is usually an art practised only by the 
professional dancers, who are not highly esteemed 
in society. 

The system of marriage by parental arrange- 
ment is condemned by the Babu. He contrasts 
the custom with the freedom of selection permitted 
to Western women. Early marriage in India is 
attributable to the extreme dread of losing caste. 
It is most important that every well-born girl 
should be betrothed or married while still a child. 
This institution is of comparatively modern origin, 
and is contrary to the teaching of the "Sushrata," 
a famous medical work, which states that girls 
should not marry before sixteen, and that the hus- 
band should have reached the age of twenty-five. 
The protracted marriage ceremonies and rites are 
criticised by this writer. There is too much pub- 
licity and interference on the part of relatives. 
The bride and bridegroom know little or nothing 
of one another; yet they are united for life in the 
closest of human intimacies. The marriage of 



ii 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

very young girls to adult men is strongly de- 
nounced by the Babu Nand Lai Ghose. 

In an impartial spirit I have cited the views of 
both native defenders and critics of the status of 
women in India. No doubt the truth lies between 
the two points of view. But when educated and 
observant Englishwomen, reared in the traditions 
of Christian monogamy, assure us that Hindu 
women are happier wives than their sisters in Eng- 
land, and that family life is idyllic, we are bound 
to qualify the testimony of ardent Hindu critics. 
The strongest denunciations of social customs are 
often proclaimed by native reformers, and not by 
foreigners. 



CHAPTER X 

MOHAMMEDAN WOMEN IN INDIA 

MOHAMMAD Barakatullah, in her survey of In- 
dian women under Moslem rule, writes : — 

"To say that a Muslim harem is a pandemonium 
of misery, where women are caged like wild beasts, 
to toil and be tortured, is an assertion no less im- 
aginary than a freak of fiction." x 

This writer offers a tenable theory of Moham- 
med's sanction for isolation of women and polyg- 
amy. The Prophet found that, in Arabia, the 
sexes were living in considerable promiscuity and 
sexual disorder. He foresaw that the promulga- 
tion of a doctrine of strict monogamy would be 
sure to fail amongst a people so long habituated to 
licence, and he hoped that moral reform would 
follow the secluded life of women. 

There is no precise encouragement of polygamy 
in the teaching of Islam. The Koran states that 
plurality of wives is permissible, under certain 
clearly defined and stringent regulations. A man 
must be sure, before marriage with more than one 

1 Yo\. "India." 

"5 



n6 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

woman, that he will love one as well as the other; 
and this injunction is, in itself, of the nature of a 
deterrent. It means simply that a man must 
achieve a very powerful mastery over his natural 
preferences. Human nature being, as it is, such 
an impartial order of conjugal love, is not within 
the attainment of every man. 

So strong is the insistence upon this absolutely 
equal distribution of a husband's affection, that 
men are warned of severe punishment in a future 
state of being, if they love one wife more than an- 
other. Recognising the risks of favouritism, Mo- 
hammed directs: "If you are afraid that you 
could not treat the wives with justice and equality, 
then marry only one." 

Nothing could be plainer than this. And no 
doubt every devout Mohammedan strives to obey 
this imperative counsel. Probably, the monog- 
amous Moslem is often swayed by this teaching. 
He fears that he may offend Allah by failing to 
love all his wives alike, and therefore he contents 
himself with one only. 

Islamism is a comparatively new faith in India. 
Hinduism is not a propagandist religion. The 
creed of the Moslems is different; missionary zeal 
is one of the characteristics of the faithful. With 
the sword and suasion, and the use of the temporal 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 117 

powers, Mohammedanism spread over Persia, 
Turkestan, India, and into Malacca. 

Some inquirers hold the view that Islam 
triumphed in India through a dissatisfaction with 
the caste system, and that converts were attracted 
by the more democratic temper of the alien re- 
ligion. The question need not be discussed here. 
It is enough to say that the Indian Empire con- 
tains more followers of Islam than any other part 
of the globe. 

The Moslem women of India hold a somewhat 
different position from that of the women of 
Arabia, North Africa, and Turkey. Unquestion- 
ably Mohammedan women enjoy numerous rights 
and privileges, though their sphere is limited prac- 
tically to the home. But in family life, they are 
supreme. In some households, the wife exercises 
much higher authority than the husband, who 
hands over to her, not only the domestic sov- 
ereignty, but the conduct of important business 
affairs. If he wishes to sell property, he takes his 
wife's advice. Even in the matter of his dress, an 
Indian Moslem husband is under the direction of 
his spouse, and the most fashionably-attired men 
are those who rely upon their wives' taste. 2 

Christian missionaries in India have drawn dark 

2 "The Empire Series : India and Ceylon." 



n8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

pictures of the "terrible degradation of Moham- 
medan women." The Rev. Joseph Cook, preach- 
ing in Boston, declared that there are 80,000,000 
women in Moslem harems. "There are un- 
counted millions of men and women and children 
growing up in the most degrading superstitions, 
and suffering in mind, body and estate from in- 
herited Pagan customs." 

Sir Lepel Griffin stated some years ago that 
women in the past held, and still hold to-day in 
India "a great and often dominating influence in 
the domestic and political life of the country." 
Yet we are constantly assured by missionaries that 
Hindu and Mohammedan women are treated little 
better than animals. 

The Rev. Dr. Elliott, of the Church Missionary 
Society, said, in an address 3 to the Zenana Mis- 
sionary Society: — 

"Mohammedanism is in its essence carnal, it is 
gross and sensual and it panders to the worst of 
passions, and it does not inculcate holiness. . . . 
It is a religion of grossness, sensuality, cruelty and 
darkness," etc. 

Such extreme denunciation is far from uncom- 
mon in the literature of missionary organizations. 

3 "India's Women," Vol. XII., p. 436. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 119 

The following is a lady missionary's comparison 
of the Hindu and Mohammedan zenanas, written 
in 1892: — 

Miss Harcourt, who has been one year at Bangalore, writes 
of it in the light of past experience in other parts of India. 

"At first, in visiting the zenanas with Miss Smith, it was 
a great pleasure to me to note the good that was being done, 
and which was evident from the joy shown by the women in 
welcoming the ladies. Everything was full of interest, as I 
had never been among Mohammedans before. Their dress, 
manners, houses, are all very different from what I had seen in 
Tinnevelly amongst the Hindus and Brahmins. It struck me 
that these women are more affectionate, but — they have not 
the least idea of cleanliness! 

"The children are dear, affectionate, little things, with 
bright black eyes; clothes of all colours cover their dirty little 
forms, they often wear red, blue, green, and purple together. 
But it does not look at all amiss on them, in fact, it is rather 
becoming to their dark skins. They are willing and anxious 
to learn, though not particularly bright, and they seem to look 
forward with very much interest to the daily half-hour Scrip- 
ture lessons. The Word of God thus sown in the hearts of 
these children cannot be in vain." 4 

A proportion of missionary testimony must al- 
ways be regarded with caution. Religious bias 
frequently tinges the statements to be found in the 
literature of all missions. This is inevitable. If 
we start with the postulate that an alien faith is 
"heathen," or "abominable," or "degrading," we 

4 "India's Women," Vol. XII. 



120 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

are bound to exaggerate the evils, while we miss 
the benefits of the creed. 

After reading missionary reports, one might 
reach the conclusion that Mohammedans* are sheer 
barbarians, believing and practising a religion 
only adapted to low and ignorant savages. Such 
a view would be grotesque and grossly unfair. I 
have given the appreciations of orthodox Christian 
writers, free from that spirit of bigotry and rancour 
that so often distinguishes the ardent apostle of 
piety. These testimonies must be set by the side 
of the statements of crusaders, pledged to under- 
mine the beliefs of a nation by all the methods 
within their power. 

It is only common justice that we should con- 
sider both sides of this question dispassionately. 
The evidence of Syed Ameer Ali and Mohammed 
Baraktullah, two highly cultured Moslem writers, 
shows that the women of the Mohammedan reli- 
gion in India are neither down-trodden, nor dis- 
contented. Indeed, they often enjoy a power and 
influence of great importance in society and in 
politics. Although the women of Bhopal are de- 
vout followers of Mohammed, their ascendency is 
so complete that they rule the state. 




BURMESE LADIES AT A GARDEN PARTY 



CHAPTER XI 

MARRIAGE IN BURMA 

ALMOST all of the writers upon Burma describe 
with enthusiasm the spell and the glamour of this 
beautiful country. We hear from visitors glow- 
ing reports of the happiness of the people, the de- 
lightful home life, and the attractive and amiable 
qualities of Burmese women. 

Burma, with its flourishing capital Rangoon, is 
the largest province of India, and one of the most 
prosperous. The increasing population points to 
the comfort of the people and the vigour of the 
Indo-Chinese stock from which they descend. 
Quite ninety per cent of the natives are Buddhists. 
The system of education is better than that of most 
other parts of India, and, in the Western sense, the 
people are more progressive. 

Polygamy is permitted in Burma; but the prac- 
tice is not common, being confined almost entirely 
to a few upper-class families. Nevertheless, the 
tradition remains, and it has its influence upon the 
existing relations of the sexes. Though King 
Theebaw had only one wife, he lived in patriarchal 
grandeur, surrounded by a host of concubines and 
slaves. 

121 



122 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

There is no part of the East where marriage is 
as free as in Burma. Absolute sex-equality is said 
by some writers to exist here; and the liberty en- 
joyed by women so greatly exceeds all the priv- 
ileges of their Hindu and Mohammedan sisters, 
that there is scarcely any comparison. 

One of the most interesting phenomenon of the 
social life of Burma is the co-existence of a survival 
of mother-right and freedom for women in a com- 
munity where polygamy is allowed and sometimes 
practised. Women not only dominate in the fam- 
ily, but they are entrusted with the most import- 
ant business negotiations. In fact, the women of 
Burma are better merchants and traders than the 
men. 1 

Marriage among the Burmese is later than 
among the natives of most other parts of India, 
except in the region of the Parsees. In Burma 
girls do not marry till they are about seventeen, 
and from that age till twenty is the usual period 
for entering into wedlock. The offices of a priest 
are usually dispensed with by the couple, who un- 
dergo a simple ceremony, and eat rice together. 2 

The use of rice in marriage symbolism is com- 

1 "Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies," Gwendolen Trench 

Gascoigne. 

2 Gwendolen Trench Gascoigne, Op. Cit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 123 

mon in many parts of the East. Rice, the staple 
diet of millions, is the most nourishing and plenti- 
ful of all the cereals, and it stands for an emblem 
of increase. Thus, the throwing of rice at bride 
and bridegroom in England is a survival of a cere- 
mony of invocation to the gods to bless the pair 
with fertility. Confetti is now often substituted 
for rice in the towns, but the grain is still used in 
country districts of the United Kingdom. 

There is no problem of celibacy amongst the 
Burmese. A man or a woman is considered quite 
incomplete until married. And as marriage is 
made very easy, and divorce no less facile, there is 
no reason why men and women should remain 
single. The abundant soil and the general pros- 
perity of the country also favour marriage at an 
early age. 

Divorce, though easily arranged, is as rare here 
as in other parts of the Indian Empire. Family 
life is usually very happy. There appears to be 
little marital incompatibility. Women are free 
within the home, and indeed, they usually rule in 
the domestic circle. Their influence in political 
and social affairs is not so palpable, but in busi- 
ness matters they often take the lead. 

In a novel, entitled "A Marriage in Burmah," 
Mrs. M. Chan Toon gives an avowed faithful ac- 



i2 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

count of the life of an English girl married to a 
Burmese husband. As husband and wife were of 
different race, and held very dissimilar views, the 
novel cannot be taken as a fair presentment of or- 
dinary monogamous marriage in Burma. The 
hero is depicted as selfish and intemperate. To- 
wards the end of the story, he deplores that he has 
not had a son by a native woman, and he suggests 
to his English wife that she should select a Bur- 
mese girl to bear him an heir. The wife indig- 
nantly refuses, and announces that she wishes to 
have a son by a man of her own race. At this pro- 
posal, the husband is equally affronted. 

Marriage between the Burmese, whether within 
or without the harem, rarely ends in the tragic 
fashion described by Mrs. Chan Toon in her novel. 
It would be difficult to point to any country where 
married life is as peaceful and idyllic as in Burma. 

The women are usually slight and small in 
frame, and very graceful. Their eyes are dark 
and lustrous. In their long black hair they wear 
flowers. They love dancing and music, and are 
fond of festive gatherings in the open air. 3 

3 Mr. Fielding, in "The Soul of a People," quotes these 
lines from a Burmese love-song: — "Her cheek is more beauti- 
ful than the dawn, her eyes are deeper than river pools; when 
she loosens her hair upon her shoulders, it is as night coming 
over the hills." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 125 

Everyone, including the children, smokes in 
Burma, and girls may be seen smoking big, strong 
cheroots, nearly a foot in length. 

Regarding the constant use of tobacco, I may 
note here that some medical writers have asserted 
that smoking tends to induce sterility in both sexes. 
As the population of Burma is steadily increasing, 
in spite of incessant cigar-smoking by both men 
and women, to say nothing of young children, it 
seems necessary to examine more closely the evi- 
dence that tobacco produces infecundity; Profes- 
sor Iwan Bloch asserts that it is not unusual in men 
addicted to smoking. It may be that the people 
of the Eastern countries resist the poison of nico- 
tine more readily than those of the West. At any 
rate, the Oriental races that indulge in tobacco, 
and often immoderately, are by no means dis- 
tinguished for a lack of virility and fecundity. 

Coffee is also alleged to possess the same quality. 
Yet in Turkey, Egypt and among many Eastern 
peoples, strong black coffee is habitually consumed 
in large quantities. 

The first sign of the change from childhood to 
adolescence in girls is made the occasion for a joy- 
ous ceremony. A family party is given by the par- 
ents, to which relatives and friends are invited. 
The girl is decked in her finest tamein, or robe, 



126 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

and she receives the congratulations of everyone 
present. A professional ear-borer is in attend- 
ance, who pierces a hole in the maiden's ears, so 
that she may wear from henceforth the large ear- 
rings that announce her attainment to woman- 
hood. 4 

Boys in Burma, upon reaching puberty, undergo 
a ceremony of tattooing the legs with numbers of 
figures and artistic devices. There are various 
theories in explanation of the high position of 
women among the Burmese. Mr. Ferrass, who 
has given study to this question, remarks, in a 
letter to C. Gasquoine Hartley 5 : — 

"There is evidence to show that at one time Bur- 
ma was as densely populated as other fertile lands. 
A sort of War of the Roses prevailed there during 
the Sixteenth and Seventeeth Centuries, which re- 
duced the male element enormously. The women 
had to take up all the agriculture and manufac- 
tures. They learned to become independent, and, 
having learned it, stuck to it. The character must 
have much to say to it, for there are African tribes 
in which the women are driven to do all the work, 
and are in consequence not more independent, but 

4 Op. Cit. by Miss Gascoigne. 
5 Mrs. Walter M. Gallfchan, Author of "The Truth About 
Woman," "The Position of Woman in Primitive Society," etc. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 127 

less so than elsewhere. The Burman woman gives 
one the idea of being less feminine than the Chi- 
nese woman, on the one hand, and the Indian on 
the other. But which is here cause and which is 
effect? It is a very difficult problem. Certain 
it is that the women have now attained such a level 
of intelligence, and above all, of character, that 
they can hold their own in virtue of it. Whether 
they have those qualities by help of their oppor- 
tunities, or the possession of the qualities made the 
opportunity, or both, it is hard, or impossible, to 
say." 

"The Soul of a People," by H. Fielding, is a 
highly appreciative tribute to the fine qualities of 
the Burmese. There are three interesting chap- 
ters on "Women," in which the author's enthusi- 
asm is infectious. The glow of the Burmese 
maidens' eyes is in these pages, and we get delight- 
ful glimpses of their home-life. 

Mr. Fielding tells us that the women of Burma 
have the "hot love and daring of a man," and that 
they are "impulsive and full of passion." Some- 
times they make the first advances in love. Pas- 
sion is no mere passing incident in their lives. 
They live for love; it fills their whole emotion. 
At the same time, they all have work to do, and 
they are very rarely idle, like so many of the Mo- 



128 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

hammedan women. They perform men's labour 
in the fields and in carrying loads- Men in 
Burma sew and embroider. The women say that 
the men can do women's work better than a 
woman. 

So hearty and wholesome is the love of life 
among these joyous optimists that it is difficult to 
persuade women to enter the religious houses. 
The Burmese girl does not wish to be a nun; she 
wants to taste all the pleasures of a healthy, normal 
life. She loves men, and wishes to bear children. 
Here is her sphere — in family love, the home, and 
domestic employments. The men are more in- 
clined to pietism, and they often elect to live as 
monks. There are more monasteries than nunner- 
ies irr the country. 

Burmese women have the "rights" that they de- 
mand, and they have not been forced to fight for 
them. Buddhism has little or nothing to say for 
the position and the treatment of women. It is 
taken for granted that men are men, and women 
are women, and that the sexes want one another 
with an equal ardour. Sex equality comes simply 
and naturally among these cheerful, rational peo- 
ple. 

There are very few divorces, for domestic con- 
cord is almost universal. Occasionally, there are 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 129 

tragedies, in spite of the prevailing felicity. 
Sometimes a girl commits suicide through unre- 
quited affection, or through jealousy. Wheie love 
is accepted seriously we may expect to encounter 
the violent manifestations of passion. 

Marriage is the destiny of every Burmese girl. 
But, as Mr. Fielding points out, the union of a pair 
of lovers is not a matter about which friends and 
neighbours are curious, as in the Western races, y 
Burmese betrothed couples choose privacy rather 
than publicity, and weddings are very quiet affairs. 
There is no public show, such as we love in Eng- 
land. The bride and bridegroom enter into the 
civil contract, with but little ceremonial. Parade 
at such a time as this seems to them indecorous. 

These fascinating people seem to me a race of 
artists. They esteem beauty, savour joy of life, , 
and value love beyond riches. They hold revels 
and dances in the sunlight and open air. They 
toil industriously, but they play heartily and often. 
Have they not solved the secret of how to live? 

The prosperity and the tranquillity of the Bur- 
mans are founded on sane social custom. I am in- 
clined to attribute most of their well-being to the 
following excellent institutions and conventions : — 

Freedom of selection, on the part of women, as 
well as men, in marriage. 



i 3 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

The same standard of morality for both sexes. 

Sharing of occupations and trades by men and 
women. There are very few idle women, as 
among the Western people, and in most parts of 
the East where polygamy prevails. 

Fairly free social intercourse between the sexes. 
Recognition of the supremacy of mothers in the 
home. 

Facility of divorce. 

Due estimation of the importance of the sex- 
passion as a social factor, and an absence of prud- 
ery. 

The philosophic nature of the popular creed and 
its comparative latitudinarianism. 

Rarity of harem isolation for women. 

Early marriage with almost entire absence of 
celibacy. 

No child marriage. 

The high intelligence of women. 

Legal equality for women. 



CHAPTER XII 

ZENANA MISSIONS 

ABOUT the year 1807, William Carey, a native of 
Northampton, started a small society for the con- 
version of India to Christianity. He was assisted 
by the zealous Henry Martyn and two other 
clergymen. A few years later an English school 
was opened in Calcutta, in which Hindu children 
were instructed in the Bible. 

Wilberforce approved of this mission, and lent 
it his fervent advocacy. Schools began to be 
erected in all parts of India, though the innovation 
was opposed by the natives. 

"It is difficult to fix the exact date of the beginning of 
Zenana missions in Calcutta, as the necessity for them was felt 
simultaneously by all the Missionary Societies working in and 
around that city. Some say that the Baptist missionaries were 
the first to begin the work; and it is well known that Mrs. 
Mullens, of the L.M.S., and her daughters visited Zenanas in 
connection with their own mission at this time. 

"In 1855 the Rev. J. Fordyce, who was then in charge of 
the » Free Kirk Orphanage in Calcutta, employed one of his 
teachers, Miss Toogood, to visit in some Zenanas, to which 
access had been gained. She was followed by Miss Isabella 
Marr, who had been trained in the Calcutta Normal School, 
and the work soon fell into the hands of the Normal School 

131 



132 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Society, and rapidly developed between the years 1859-1878. 
But in the early daj^s of Zenana teaching there were great dif- 
ficulties in the way. Prejudice was still strong, and often 
when a Zenana had been thrown open to the teaching of the 
missionary it suddenly closed again, causing great sorrow and 
disappointment to the teachers, who yearned for the souls of 
their poor imprisoned pupils." 1 

The movement grew steadily. r A number of 
low-caste Hindus were attracted to the new creed, 
which offered them an ideal of democracy and 
fraternity, and promised a material heaven beyond 
the grave. There are now nearly three millions of 
Christian converts in India, mainly in Bengal and 
Madras. 

The Church of England Zenana Missionary So- 
ciety has stations all over the Indian Empire from 
Peshawar to Hyderabad, from Calcutta to Ma- 
dras and Ceylon. There is no doubt that the 
lady medical missioners have done good work in 
the zenanas, where formerly the methods of heal- 
ing were crude and inefficient. 

There is, however, a difference of view amongst 
Anglo-Indians as to the ethical results of mission- 
ary enterprise. Certainly, only a few of the edu- 
cated classes of India profess Christianity. The 
Mohammedans, who are becoming more numerous 

1 "India's Women," Vol. XII. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 133 

than the Hindus, are not readily persuaded to 
abandon their faith. 

Mrs. A. M. L. Smith, a missionary, writing in 
1892, asks: "What effect are we producing upon 
the Mohammedans of Bangalore? Humanly- 
speaking, we are so feeble — surrounded with diffi- 
culties, one and another often failing in health, the 
language strange to us, the people so far removed 
from our ways of thought that it is difficult for us 
to understand them — we cannot wonder that we 
cannot point to great results. But our faith is in 
God and we believe that His mighty Word will 
accomplish His Will even in our weak hands." 2 

Again, Miss Pontin, writing from Barrackpore, 
says: "One thought has been often in my mind 
during the past year; how very little we have yet 
done! how very little impression we have made." 
She continues that the Hindus are apathetic to the 
ministrations of the missionaries, and that there 
are few indications of a widespread conversion to 
the Christian religion. 

Indian native publicists have, however, written 
commending the efforts of English missionary 
ladies, especially in the field of popular education 
and medical attention in the harems. The secular 
work of the Christian missions is in many respects 

2 Op. Cit., p. 409. 



i 3 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

beneficial from the Hindu point of view. One 
native writer speaks with unqualified admiration 
of the Zenana Missions, describing them as "benef- 
icent and ennobling agencies." 3 

It is fairly certain that the bulk of the Hindu 
and Mohammedan people of India will never em- 
brace the Christian faith. The West has brought 
Christianity to the East; but the West has also in- 
troduced philosophic doubt and the rationalising 
tendency of the age. The message of the evan- 
gelical creed makes no appeal to the high-caste cul- 
tivated Hindu. 

Any unprejudiced Englishman acquainted with 
Indian life will testify that we have made certain 
grievous mistakes in the administration of the In- 
dian Empire. Tampering with ancient religious 
practice is always dangerous. The most sympa- 
thetic understanding and the rarest tact are neces- 
sary in dealing with the subject-races. These vir- 
tues are not always exhibited by administrators. 
"Our intolerance of a morality other than our 
own," writes Mr. J'. H. Nelson, an English bar- 
rister, "brings about again and again the saddest 
results." 4 

3 Babu Nanda Lai Ghose, "A Guide for Indian Females from 

Infancy to Old Age," Lahore. 

4 "The Scientific Study of the Hindu Law." 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE IMPERIAL HAREM IN TURKEY 

The plural system of marriage arose in Turkey 
among the mixed Caucassian races that came to 
be known as Turks. Descendants of a wandering 
Tartar horde, the founders of Turkey brought with 
them the customs of ancient Asia. Very early in 
their history they were polygamous; but to-day the 
Turks are said to be the least addicted to polygamy 
of any of the nations under the dominion of 
Islam. 1 

Ancient marriage in Turkey was a matter of 
negotiation and arrangement, and not of capture, 
as among the Arabs and some other Eastern tribes. 
To this day marriage is largely under the direction 
of a third person, or several persons, besides the 
contracting partners. The matrimonial agency is 
an old institution of the Ottoman Empire. 

Although the great majority of Turks are mar- 
ried to one woman only, there are numerous 
harems in Constantinople and other towns. The 
sultans have always maintained plural marriage, 
and their harems have sheltered a large number of 

1 "Diary of a Turk," Halib Halid, 1903. 
135 



136 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

mistresses of all grades, besides the legal wives. 
A sovereign in Turkey is allowed to wed seven 
women. There is no restriction upon the num- 
ber of his concubines and slaves ; and some of the 
rulers have kept as many as a thousand women in 
their palaces. 

Five thousand pounds a day has been stated as 
the cost of supporting a royal harem in Turkey. 
The pomp and grandeur of a sultan's court are be- 
yond comparison. The ruler of the empire is a 
mighty autocrat to whom the utmost deference and 
obedience must be yielded. He must live in a 
truly regal state, befitting his exalted position. 

For the sultans are not ordinary monarchs ; they 
have despotic control of the souls and bodies of 
their subjects. They are the chiefs of the army, 
the supreme judges, and the kings. Behind the 
towering white walls of the Imperial Harem at 
Constantinople live thousands of persons of both 
sexes, all of them ministers and servitors to the 
pleasures of the Sultan. There is an army of 
eunuchs, and several hundred cooks, besides a 
multitude of slaves. The eunuchs who guard the 
approaches to the palace are all white men, who 
are not permitted to enter within. Negroes are 
the personal attendants upon the ladies of the court 
and the harem. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 137 

The Chief Master of the Maidens is a dignitary 
of unique eminence. He is almost feared by the 
Sultan himself. Here, as in Egypt, the Kislar- 
aghasi is like a king. His salary is enormous, and 
when he retires, he is entitled to a liberal pension 
for the rest of his days. 

There are many well-paid officials in the royal 
household. The principal woman-supervisor con- 
trols a regiment of Kalfas, who have subordinates 
under their guidance. There are the "Mistress of 
the Sherbet," and the "Mistress of the Coffee," 
and numerous other female officials, all of them 
living in more or less splendour and authority. 
Their servants are the alaiks, who are practically 
slaves, though they have well-defined rights. 

The Sultan's seraglio is adorned by the most 
beautiful women that Circassia can provide. 
Highest in rank is the mother of the heir to the 
throne, who possesses supreme privileges and a 
heavy dowry. The chief wives are next to her in 
station; and beneath them are the inferior wives, 
and the odalisques. Every woman in the palace 
is at the beck of the monarch. 2 

When a harem lady has been blessed by the ad- 
miration of her sovereign, she rises at once in posi- 

2 Several of my facts are gathered from Mrs. Bowman-Dodd's 
"Palaces of the Sultan." 



i 3 8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

tion. She is entitled to her own suite of rooms 
and attendants. A large sum of money is allotted 
to her, and she is secure and wealthy for life. 

The slaves are selected for their youth and grace. 
In former days they were chosen in public, as in 
the Egyptian markets ; but now the Sultan inspects 
the candidates in the harem, attended by the Chief 
Eunuch and other officers. These slave-girls are 
not treated with harshness, nor contempt. They 
have dainty fare, charming dresses, and comfort- 
able chambers. If one shows an aptitude for 
music, the best instructors are provided for her 
training. Dancing is taught to all the girls, and 
many excel in the art, and become favourite per- 
formers. Care of the skin and the complexion and 
frequent bathing are enjoined. 

A clever country maid may, by the exercise of 
her physical attractions, her wit, or her dancing, 
win the favour of the monarch. Many unedu- 
cated girls who enter the harem learn languages 
and become moderately well educated in a few 
months. A slave, if she is exceptionally intelli- 
gent, may become a teacher. 

There is keen emulation among the host of slave- 
girls for the royal favour. Happy is the maiden 
who "has been looked upon." Her hour of tri- 
umph is near. An inquiring glance from her mas- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 139 

ter's eye is the presage of good fortune, and she is 
set aside to await a summons to the royal chamber. 

Many are the stories of crimes and cruelties per- 
petrated behind the forbidding walls of the harem. 
In bygone days, no doubt there were tragedies and 
horrors, though probably their frequency has been 
grossly exaggerated by foreign writers. I shall 
show presently that the Turk is not a truculent 
tyrant of women, and that the Turkish lust for 
cruelty has been overstated. Mohammed taught 
explicitly that servants should be treated with con- 
sideration and sympathy. The Prophet did not 
sanction slavery. Most probably the system was 
derived from the Hebrews. Turkish women of 
rank, who own slaves, are notably fair and kindly 
in their control of these attendants. Frequently 
the slave girl is a confidential companion, and a 
real affection exists between mistress and servitor. 

At Garden Point, in Constantinople, the tourist 
is shown the spot where offending wives of the 
royal serai, or harem, were formerly cast into the 
Bosphorus, sewn up in a sack. "Thousands of 
women" are said to have received this capital pun- 
ishment for adultery. Upon what authority are 
these accounts based? It is well-known that the 
affairs of the seraglio are conducted in the utmost 
secrecy. Who was present when hundreds of 



i 4 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

women were drowned at the same time? I do not 
say that such a penalty has never been inflicted 
upon erring wives; but I am disposed to ascribe 
much of this alleged cruelty to the imagination of 
prejudiced historians, hostile to the religion of 
Islam, and anxious to represent polygamy in its 
darkest aspects. 

We have taken it for granted that the Sultan is 
the head and chief of the whole court and harem. 
To a large extent, this is true. But there is one 
who commands the sovereign, and is often feared 
by him. This potentate is a woman, the Valide 
Sultana, who reigns supreme over the great harem 
family. Here is highly instructive evidence of the 
persistence of the matriarchal authority in Turkey. 
The mother of the king is queen over the king and 
his family. 

The Sultana-mother lives in magnificent apart- 
ments in the palace. Sixty of the handsomest 
eunuchs wait upon her, besides her female retinue. 
She supervises the women officials, and directs all 
the internal domestic affairs of the vast court. 
Her servants approach with folded arms, as a mark 
of humility and the highest respect. She is sur- 
rounded by the strictest ceremonial, and treated 
almost as a divinity. Every member of her family, 
from the Sultan himself, trembles at the thought 




IN THE HAREM. TYPICAL COSTUMES OF 
CONSTANTINOPLE 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 141 

of her displeasure. And yet we read of "the de- 
graded position" of Turkish women. How can 
this be reconciled with the fact that the real auto- 
crat of the royal harem is a woman? 

If the Sultana Valide dies, the Sultan's wet-nurse 
is elevated to this royal position. A slave-girl 
may, through good fortune, become the Sultan- 
mother. Mahmud II. fell in love with a girl of 
the bath-chamber, and she bore Abdul Niedgid, 
who became ruler of Turkey. Thus the slave be- 
came Sultana Valide. 

The life of the ruler of Turkey is not one of com- 
plete ease and luxury. As a prince, his probation 
is extremely austere. He is practically a prisoner, 
occupying the "cage," or kafe, for several years. 
In his own apartments, he is kept, uncontaminated 
by the outside world, under the direction of tutors 
and professors. It is true that he has several maid- 
ens and many servants to share his close seclusion. 
But his life is by no means idle and purposeless. 

This training for the throne is succeeded by the 
responsibilities of government. The ruling of 
Turkey is not a sinecure. The position of Sultan 
becomes more and more difficult. Nominally, he 
is the supreme head of the dominion, but actually 
he is influenced by ministers and counsellors. 

The very magnitude and opulence of the sover- 



142 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

eign's possessions induce weariness and satiety. 
He strives to lead the simple life. Rising early, 
he performs his devotions, eats a plain, light meal, 
and receives his visitors. Those who seek an audi- 
ence are received with courtesy and set at their 
ease. They are even permitted to sit by the Sultan 
on his divan. 

Many of the Sultans may be described as having 
been domesticated. Almost all of them have 
proved good parents, and much attached to their 
children. Throwing aside the cares of the realm, 
they love to join the mothers and the children in 
the nursery, and to romp with the youngsters. The 
present Sultan is fond of horseback riding and 
sailing. 

While a Jewess is never admitted to the Imperial 
Serai, there are several Christian women among 
the Sultan's train. They are well treated, and no 
intolerance is shown to their creed, which they are 
not asked to reject. 

The daughters and sisters of the Sultan some- 
times marry husbands without royal lineage. In 
these cases the husbands are extremely submissive 
to their wives; and they may not sit down in their 
presence without first asking permission. 

The ladies of the Royal Harem wear costumes 
designed in Paris, and dress in the height of each 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 143 

changing fashion. 3 On State occasions of impor- 
tance, they dress in the Turkish trousers and shawls. 
They are allowed to go out shopping in the bazaars, 
provided that they are suitably veiled. 

The women of the seraglio often spend the day 
in boating, and they are fond of excursions into the 
country. Many parties of them, attended by their 
servants, go in carriages, and picnic in the woods. 
They play games and romp like children. 

The Sultan has more than one palace, besides 
well-appointed houses for his favourite ikbals. 
These ladies live apart from the serai, and have 
their own guards and servants. They entertain 
their royal spouse in their own residences. 4 

The slaves of the royal household fare as well as 
the ladies whom they attend; and their lot is cer- 
tainly easier than that of most servants in Chris- 
tian countries. Mrs. Garnett thinks that, in many 
respects, the Turkish female slave is better off than 
the domestic servant of the West. At the end of 

3 Lady Duff-Gordon, writing to "The London Budget," 
Nov. 23, 1913, says that in Paris "the harem influence con- 
tinues to be strongly evident in the fashions of the winter. . . . 
The harem dress is the dress of allurement. No Occidental 
woman understands the mystery, the depth of allurement, as 
Oriental women do." 

4 See Mrs. Lucy M. J. Garnett's interesting volume, 
"Women of Turkey." II. Ibid. 



i 4 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

seven years of servitude, she is a free woman, and 
often a husband and a dowry are found for her. 
If she is beautiful and amiable, she may rise to a 
very enviable position in the serai. 



CHAPTER XIVi 

POLYGAMY IN TURKISH SOCIETY 

A TURKISH gentleman informs me that the serai 
may, in the near course of time, become quite rare 
and curious in his country. Monogamy is now 
considered "good form," and plural marriage is 
beginning to be regarded as old-fashioned. Tur- 
key has always been very susceptible to alien in- 
fluences. She has during later years absorbed 
much of the spirit of the West; and Turks who 
have lived for some time in England or France, 
return to their land with a new perspective of so- 
cial life and ideals. 

The bulk of the population of Turkey is monog- 
amous. It would be correct to state that the polyg- 
amists are an almost insignificant number, confined 
entirely to the rich class. Many men married to 
one wife keep mistresses in a second establishment ; 
but the lords of the large harems are few. 

The ownership of a serai imposes several severe 
obligations apart from the high cost. A Turk 
cannot follow the example of the West, where the 
"kept woman" can be repudiated and cast aside, 
even if she is penniless. The law and public opin- 
ion of Turkey demand that a husband or a lover 

145 



146 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

must provide for the discarded wife, or mistress, 
as well as the children of the union. 

A prudent Turk, before venturing upon plural 
marriage, reflects that the claims of his wives and 
concubines are numerous and heavy. Custom is 
exacting in this matter. Several wives require sev- 
eral servants, separate apartments, carriages — for 
harem women do not walk out of the harem 
grounds — expensive fashionable gowns and hats, 
jewellery, and, above all, generous dowries. Eu- 
nuchs must be kept and well paid, for they are in- 
dispensable. There are a hundred-and-one in- 
cidental expenses to be reckoned with. Moreover, 
several wives mean a big family. And in Turkey, 
where family affection is deep, a father is bound 
by conscience and the law, to maintain his off- 
spring in comfort, and to provide for their future. 

Besides the economic deterrent, there is the 
growing sentiment against polygamous unions. A 
cultured Turk, with a cosmopolitan experience, 
ponders upon the family life of the monogamous 
countries, and discovers something admirable in 
its loving comradeship with one woman. He de- 
plores the defective education of the mass of 
women in his own country, and asks whether polyg- 
amy is not in a large degree the cause of this. 

In many respects single marriage in Turkey af- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 147 

fords a sound example to England and America. 
Divorce, though simple, is very rare. In the 
Western societies, where it is difficult, it is quite 
common. I think the scarcity of separation may 
be accepted as a tribute to the conjugal adaptability 
of the Turks. They make good husbands and 
wives. From all that I know of the men of Tur- 
key, I am convinced that they excel in that sympa- 
thetic understanding of women which generally 
ensures success as a lover and husband. 

Let us consider for a moment the temperament 
and character of the Turks. They are not so com- 
pletely "Oriental" as the Hindus. The race is 
very mixed, and there is a strong strain of Circas- 
sian blood in the highest families. The salient 
traits of the Turk are ardour in sexual love, quick 
temper, fortitude, kindliness, and courtesy. So- 
cial intercourse is democratic; there is not a wide 
gulf of caste between employer and employed, and 
between master and slave. 

A conspicuous quality of the Turk is his devo- 
tion to family life and his great affection for chil- 
dren. He not only loves his own children, but his 
tenderness extends to all children. Perhaps no- 
where else can such fond fathers be found in the 
East or West. 

Thackeray was impressed by the love of the 



148 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Turkish people for their children. "I never saw 
more kindness to children than among all classes, 
more fathers walking about with little solemn 
Mahometans in red caps and big trousers, more 
business going on than in the toy-quarter, and in the 
Atmeidan." And he gives a description of grey- 
beards finding the greatest delight in playing with 
young children. 

This love of children is confirmed by Sir Edwin 
Pears, in "Turkey and its People." "Paradise is 
beneath the ground over which mothers walk," 
said Mohammed. This esteem for maternity and 
gentle solicitude for the well-being of the young 
is one of the most beautiful traits of the Turkish 
character. 

The man who understands children, and is loved 
by them, has certain qualities that appeal to women. 
Women say that tenderness is one of the virtues 
that they most esteem in men. This tenderness is 
nearly always apparent in the Turk. He is a born 
wooer, possessed of sympathetic insight into wom- 
an's inner soul. Art develops this natural gift; 
for the men of the East are diligent students of the 
art of love. Compared with them, the average 
Briton is an inexperienced amateur. 

Regarded from the question of ensuring happy 
and healthy marital relations, Sir James Paget has 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 149 

some wise words upon our disastrous ignorance 
of the physical expression of conjugal love. No 
Oriental is allowed to marry in such ignorance. 
Turkish and Persian love poetry reveal this mas- 
culine appreciation of woman's nature. There is 
no doubt that the tranquil, felicitous married life 
in Turkey is due largely to the pains that men take 
in learning the art of love. 

There is no rending sex-antagonism in Turkey, 
as in England at the present day. Men and women 
accept one another joyfully as gifts from the gods. 
They fulfil their sex-lives naturally, without con- 
cern as to which sex is the more virtuous or supe- 
rior. I am not assuming that all is wrong with our 
own marriage system and that everything is right 
with wedlock in Turkey. 

There are, however, certain sane and beneficial 
customs in Turkey that other nations might imi- 
tate. English and American women, who have 
seen the inner home-life of the Turks, frequently 
assert that the women are, on the whole, in a better 
position than in any other country of Europe; in- 
deed, one American lady has declared that women 
in Turkey are more esteemed, and have higher 
privileges, than in the United States. 1 

1 See "Palaces of the Sultan," Anna Bowman Dodd, and Mrs. 
Garnett's "Women of Turkey." 



150 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu gives several 
pictures of Turkish harem life in her time. At 
Adrianople, she paid a visit to a serai containing 
about two hundred women. She was received with 
the utmost courtesy. 

"The first sofas were covered with cushions and rich 
carpets, on which sat the ladies, and on the second their slaves, 
behind them, but without any distinction of rank by their dress, 
all being in a state of nature, that is, in plain English, stark 
naked, without any beauty or defect concealed. Yet there was 
not the least wanton smile or immodest gesture among them. 
They walked or moved with the same majestic grace, which 
Milton describes our general mother with. There are many 
among them as exactly proportionate as ever any goddess was 
drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian, and most of their skin 
shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful hair, divided 
into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided, either 
with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the 
graces." 

Mohammedan modesty is chiefly manifested by 
women in the practice of covering the face from 
the gaze of the other sex. There is much less so- 
licitude for concealing the body. Friends who 
have surprised Eastern women, when bathing in 
the rivers, tell me that the women run to put on 
their veils, and so long as their faces are covered, 
they are not concerned about the rest of their fig- 
ures. But we are told that Mohammedan women 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 151 

are shocked at the evening dress of English 
women. 

The Turkish veil is a more complete covering 
for the face than the Arab yashmak. It is of mus- 
lin, and covers the whole head. Over the veil is 
worn a hood, attached to an unlovely garment that 
reaches to the heels and encases the body. 

In the East there is a reluctance on the part of 
well-bred women to show the feet. Turks are in- 
clined to make a fetich of their women's feet, 
somewhat after the manner of the Chinese. Stra- 
bo refers to "the courtesan Rhodope, whose sandal 
was carried off by an eagle and dropped in the 
King of Egypt's lap as he was administering jus- 
tice, so that he could not rest until he had discov- 
ered to whom this delicately small sandal belonged, 
and finally made her his queen." 2 

A Turkish beauty's slippers are an important 
part of her clothing. The foot has an erotic sig- 
nificance among most Moslem peoples, and, to a 
certain extent, in Spain, which owes many of its 
ideas and practices to the Moorish conquerors. 
Students of sexual psychology are aware that boot- 
and-shoe fetichism is common in most countries. 

The same passion for powerful scents that pre- 

2 Quoted by Havelock Ellis, "Erotic Symbolism," "Studies 
in the Psychology of Sex," Vol. V. 



i 5 2 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

vails amongst the Egyptian women is noted in the 
harems of Constantinople. There is very frequent 
reference in Oriental love poems to the odour of 
the loved one. Odorous tresses are described, and 
likened to the smell of musk and civet. This keen 
olfactory sensitiveness is normal in Arabia and 
Turkey. The Turks love the heavy perfume of 
the lily. They are especially fond of musk and 
myrrh, and women often use strong perfumes in 
their baths and unguents. The "lotus woman" of 
the Hindus, the flower of her sex, should possess 
the natural aroma of musk. In the "Song of 
Songs," which is typically Oriental, we read of 
"myrrh," "spices," and "sweet herbs." 

The haremlik, or the women's quarters, in the 
houses of Turkish aristocrats is furnished in mod- 
ern European style, the fittings and furniture tend- 
ing to lose their Eastern character. English 
pianos are to be seen. 

The ladies of the haremlik can gaze upon the 
outer world through apertures in the darkened 
windows, but they are not seen from without. 
They go out at will, like the women of the Imperial 
Harem, but always veiled. 

Dancing is one of the accomplishments of the 
women of the seraglio. The Turkish dancers sway 
the upper part of the body from the hips, and often 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 153 

writhe with snake-like motions. The feet play a 
subordinate part in most Oriental dances; but the 
arms are in constant waving motion, sometimes ex- 
tended on either side, or raised above the head. 

Among the troupe of Turkish dancers who ap- 
peared in London a few years ago, many of the 
performers were very proficient in a peculiar 
movement of the head from side to side without 
any motion of the neck. This is an important fea- 
ture of dancing in Turkey, and the movement is 
strangely suggestive of dislocation of the neck. It 
appears to be extremely difficult, but a Spanish 
professional dancer, with whom I am acquainted, 
tells me that she learned the head movement in 
about a week by practising in front of a mirror. 

The dances are often protracted, and very ex- 
hausting to the artists. Whirling round at a great 
rate is a part of the art. This giddy evolution is 
sustained for many minutes, and causes a sense of 
vertigo in the spectator. The girl becomes almost 
frenzied. She whirls faster and faster, and finally 
reels to a couch, her face drenched and white, al- 
most in a state of collapse from the prolonged and 
violent exertion. Most of the dancers are volup- 
tuous, and describe amorous passion. They are 
less graceful and pleasing than the peasant dances 
of Spain. 



i 5 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Although some Turkish women are excellent 
dancers, they are not fond of physical exercise, and 
the sporting or athletic woman is unknown in the 
society of Constantinople. The men are often fine 
equestrians, and some are formidable wrestlers, but 
they have no liking for field-sports. 

Devotions, the toilet and bathing occupy much 
of the women's time. They are very fond of the 
hot vapour bath and the heated chambers, and 
some of them will spend the greater part of the day 
at the hammam. 

No harem ikbal allows her hair to turn grey. 
Such sign of age must be remedied by every device 
of art. Dye is used constantly for the hair upon 
the first appearance of fading. Wrinkles in the skin 
of the face are treated by massage and emollients. 

Although the Turks excel in affection for their 
children, infant mortality is high owing to defec- 
tive hygiene and the incompetence of physicians. 
The secluded life of the women in the seraglio, and 
the average home in Turkey, is not the best en- 
vironment for mothers. It cramps the intelli- 
gence, and perpetuates antiquated and often fool- 
ish and injurious practices in the rearing of infants. 
The nurses in the harem are not properly trained, 
and many children die through their mismanage- 
ment. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 155 

Women of the haremlik have the chief care of 
their children during the years up to the marriage- 
able age, and their influence is great during child- 
hood and adolescence. Being imperfectly edu- 
cated, and inexperienced in all that concerns the 
larger life of the world, the average Turkish 
mother, in spite of her parental tenderness, is not 
often a competent instructress of the young. She 
is almost always very conservative in her views and 
her habits, and she accepts all the ideals in which 
she has been trained from earliest infancy. The 
spirit of "the unchanging East" fetters and cramps 
her mind. 

Upon this influence of the mothers Halib Halid 
has some reflections in his interesting "Diary of a 
Turk," published in 1903. 

The mixture of the white and the more pig- 
mented races in Turkey has produced a distinct 
type of beauty amongst the women. Many Turk- 
ish ladies are fair, with grey or blue eyes and light 
brown hair. Some are handsome brunettes, with 
luxuriant black hair. The eyebrows are rather 
heavy and arched. 

A Turkish beauty has tender, almond-shaped 
eyes, with pointed corners to the lids. Her face is 
often "made up" with various powders and rouge, 
and the rim of the eyelid is stained. In form the 



156 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

women of Turkey incline to plumpness and round- 
ness, but they are often finely modelled. Their at- 
tractions begin to fade before middle-age, in spite 
of bathing, massage, and constant attention to the 
preservation of their good looks and their figures. 

About a century ago, Lady Craven wrote: — "I 
think I never saw a country where women may en- 
joy as much liberty and fear from all reproach as 
in Turkey.'' This opinion is confirmed by almost 
all the observant travellers whom I have ques- 
tioned, and in numerous volumes to which I have 
referred. Several English women have written of 
the women of Turkey as down-trodden, immured 
and secluded, but such a view is scarcely just. Cer- 
tainly, judged from a purely Western standpoint, 
Turkish women are debarred from specific forms 
of freedom enjoyed in Christian countries. But 
when a balance is struck, we shall perhaps realise 
that the difference between the status of the Eng- 
lish woman and her sister in Turkey is not so 
marked as it appears. 

Turkey has solved the problem of involuntary 
celibacy for women, which is one of the most pal- 
pable defects of the monogamous marriage system. 
We have tens of thousands of spinsters who are ac- 
tually doomed to the single life against their in- 
clination, to say nothing of a large number of 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 157 

women who profess a preference for celibacy. 
Such a phenomenon is quite incomprehensible to 
the Eastern intelligence. The main function of 
woman, from Nature's decree, is reproduction, and 
this the Oriental accepts without hesitation. In- 
fecundity is the worst misfortune that can befall 
a Turkish or Hindu wife. More wretched still is 
the state of celibacy, except when voluntarily 
adopted, as in the case of priestesses and saints. 

Enforced continence for numbers of women, and 
prostitution, the twin evils inseparable from 
monogamy, are mitigated, if not entirely banished, 
in polygamous states. Lifelong virginity is practi- 
cally unknown in the East. The social evil exists, 
but to a limited extent, and under different condi- 
tions from those prevailing in Christian mono- 
gamic societies. 

"Sacred prostitution" was in reality a rite for 
the promotion of fertility. The paramours of the 
women in the Temple of Mylitta repeated the 
words, "May the goddess be auspicious to thee!" 
showing clearly that the ritual had a fecundating 
meaning. The forms of prostitution surviving in 
the East are plainly derived from old religious ob- 
servance, and originally they were not of a mer- 
cenary or vulgar character, but of very sacred and 
serious import. 



158 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Among the Corinthians this practice began to 
lose its pious associations. The priestesses were 
ministers to men rather than to the deity. This 
transition is explained by Havelock Ellis in his 
valuable examination of hetairism 3 from the earli- 
est ages. Whenever Mohammedans and Hindus 
have come into relation with Western conquerors, 
traders, and travellers, prostitution has arisen and 
spread. In Burma the custom was unknown be- 
fore the advent of the English. And so with the 
whole of India. 

Mohammed denounced prostitution, and it was 
scarcely known in Moslem countries during the 
first centuries of the faith. Nowadays, the evil is 
fostered by the constant influx of foreigners in the 
Eastern cities. For example, in Turkey, the 
keepers of brothels are usually Jews, and their 
chief patrons are Christians. The same may be 
said for Egypt. Sir Edwin Pears, in "Turkey and 
Its People," 191 1, writes that the social evil is ap- 
parent in Constantinople. On the other hand, I 
have been informed by friends who have lived in 
Turkey that there is comparatively little prostitu- 
tion. 

Mrs. Anna Bowman Dodd and Mrs. Lucy M. 
J. Garnett, to whose writings I have referred, pre- 

3 Op. cit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 159 

sent the views of cultured observers upon the 
status of the women of Turkey. Neither of these 
ladies have dwelt only on the darker aspect of the 
lives of Mohammedan women and the "degrada- 
tion" of the haremlik. Their testimony is impar- 
tial, and therefore valuable. 



CHAPTER XV, 

FEMINISM IN TURKEY 

The title of this chapter will seem a misnomer to 
those who hold the preconceived view that Mo- 
hammedan women are hopelessly crushed beneath 
male tyranny, and devoid of most of the common 
rights of human beings. It is not unusual to hear 
critics in the West assert that "no women under 
Islam can enter Paradise," and that Mohammed 
insisted upon the inferiority of the female sex to 
the extent of likening them to mere animals, 
"asses," and the like. 

There are passages in the Koran bearing upon 
the proper conduct of women, which inculcate 
humility and modesty. Precisely similar teach- 
ing may be found in the epistles of St. Paul, the 
supreme Apostle of ecclesiastic Christianity. 
Women were bidden to learn of men, to stay at 
home, not to speak in the public assemblies, to 
avoid vanity, to dress plainly, and to obey their 
husbands in all things. 

St. Paul's view of marriage was that of the as- 
cetic saints who succeeded him. He had no fine, 

spiritual appreciation of love and the married 

1 60 




TURKISH BRIDE IN WEDDING DRESS 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 161 

state. Marriage was a method of avoiding car- 
nal sin. 

The Prophet of Mecca proclaimed a nobler esti- 
mate of wedlock, though this will be disputed by 
the extremists who cannot separate polygamy from 
innate iniquity in those who practise it. Liberal 
orthodox Christians have, however, admitted 
justly that a man with more than one wife is not of 
necessity an immoral character. They recognise 
that some of the most righteous of mankind have 
been supporters of polygamous marriage. The 
following passages from the Koran, while they en- 
join modesty and restraint upon women, are less 
patriarchal in spirit than the injunctions of St. 
Paul:— 

"And speak unto the believing women, that they restrain 
their eyes, and preserve their modesty, and discover not their 
ornaments, except what necessarily appeareth thereof; and let 
them throw their veils over their bosoms, and not show their 
ornaments, unless to their husbands, or their fathers, their hus- 
band's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their 
brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their 
women, or the captives which their right hands shall possess, or 
unto such men as attend them and have no need of women, or 
unto children, who distinguish not the nakedness of women. 

And let them not make a noise with their feet that their orna- 
ments which they hide may thereby be discovered." 

Making a noise with the feet refers to the tink- 



1 62 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

ling ornaments and bells that the women of the 
Prophet's time wore upon their ankles. 

If the women of Turkey have not attained to 
those forms of freedom in society enjoyed by Eng- 
lish and American women, they have a much firmer 
security in a legal sense. There was no need for a 
Married Woman's Property Act in the Ottoman 
Empire. Complete possession and control of the 
personal property of women was granted ages ago. 

Every Turkish mother has sole guardianship of 
her children in their early years. In after life, the 
children seek her counsels, and the sons frequently 
obey their mothers during the whole of their lives. 
Upon divorce or repudiation by a husband, all of 
a wife's property is allotted to her. 

It is supposed that divorce is impossible for a 
woman in Turkey. This is incorrect. There are 
several causes for a legal separation from a hus- 
band. Cruelty, and even neglect to maintain a 
wife in the station in which she was born, are rea- 
sons for a woman's plea for divorce. Desertion 
by a husband is another cause. If a wife wishes to 
leave a husband on any of these charges, she is en- 
titled by law to a return of the dowry paid upon 
marriage. 

"Turkish women," writes Mrs. Garnett, "thus 
already possess all the legal personal and proprie- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 163 

tary rights necessary to give them a social position 
equal, if not superior, to that of European women 
generally; and the objection to their emancipation 
from harem restraints is consequently one of cus- 
tom and prejudice rather than of religious law, 
the seclusion of women and the veiling of the face 
being immemorial social usages borrowed from 
other neighbouring Oriental races, and not institu- 
tions peculiarly Turkish, and no religious law 
would, therefore, be contravened by a change in 
these merely social customs." 

Returning once more to the question of divorce, 
we must realise that it is not quite as simple a mat- 
ter as it appears. A devout Mohammedan shrinks 
from casting aside his wife, unless the reason for 
so doing is exceptionally definite. He remembers 
the stern words of the Prophet: "The curse of 
Allah rests on him who capriciously repudiates his 
wife." 

Critics of Islam, who state that the men of the 
East "treat women as chattels" while they are of 
use — and discard them with sheer callousness when 
they have lost the freshness of youth — should con- 
sider the testimony of the many Christian observers 
of Turkish home-life. As a matter of fact, in 
many harems old women will be seen leading con- 
tented and happy lives, surrounded by relatives and 



1 64 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

young children. The Turk does not turn out his 
grandmother to starve in the streets. He has 
rarely any inclination to do so. Moreover, his 
creed and the law do not allow it. 

In a spirit of fair inquiry, we must listen to those 
travellers in Turkey who do not share the optimis- 
tic view of the writers I have quoted, and the 
friends with whom I have conversed. There are 
still Occidental visitors who speak of unfortunate 
women in Turkey, pent up in the harems, and liv- 
ing degraded lives as the mere instruments of sen- 
sual men. 

Sir Edwin Pears, in the work to which I have 
referred, is not so prejudiced an investigator as 
some of my compatriots. He admits that there are 
admirable traits in the Turkish people, and he tes- 
tifies to their love of children. But this author's 
impressions are very different from those of Mrs. 
Garnett, who lived so long in Turkey, and has 
studied the inhabitants of town and country with 
much zeal and intelligence. 

Sir Edwin Pears finds an absence of family life, 
whereas other strangers in the land seem to discern 
domestic affection and tender conjugal love in al- 
most every home. 

In the East husbands and wives do not walk arm- 
in-arm in the streets. Frequently, as in India, the 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 165 

man walks in advance of the woman. This is, 
however, no sign of an open assertion of male 
superiority. It has a very different origin. In 
the old times, the husband strode in front of the 
wife, to hold back the branches of the forest and 
to make a track for her. He was like a military 
vanguard, ready for encounters with enemies, and 
not the leader of a weak and submissive spouse, 
who was not worthy to walk at his side. 

Sir Edwin Pears declares that the hold of a wife 
upon her partner is exceedingly insecure. In a 
fit of temper, or in a moment of caprice, the hus- 
band may say: "I repudiate you." But repudia- 
tion is not easy, and, according to other witnesses, 
it is not frequent. Nevertheless, the custom exists, 
and its existence is deplored by many thoughtful 
and high-principled men in Turkey. 

"Whatever the recent teachers of Islam may 
say," writes Sir Edwin, "it is, however, beyond 
reasonable doubt that the position of women in 
Moslem is lower than in Christian countries." 

I have already given distinctly contrary opinions 
expressed by English and American women. It 
would be absurd to pretend that cultured women 
in Turkey have all that they desire, intellectually 
and in the social sense. There is even a franchise 
movement among the educated women. Cer- 



1 66 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

tainly, no country has yet been discovered in which 
there is no need of reforms ; and it is true of Turkey 
to-day that discontent among upper class women 
is not altogether uncommon. I believe that this 
spirit of dissatisfaction is not always associated 
with the institution of polygamy. It is a desire for 
freer social intercourse, for culture, and for a 
widening of women's interests and pursuits. 

The students who attend the women's college at 
Scutari are likely to develop into ardent pioneers 
of a feminist movement in Turkey. Among our 
Suffragist leaders are a quite imposing number of 
women who are distinguished as scholars. Educa- 
tion in any and every class gives rise inevitably to 
"divine discontent." Very frequently the widen- 
ing of knowledge brings an awakening of con- 
science and a quickening of the social instinct. 
Women who learn to think begin to feel more 
deeply; and reflection upon the evils of society 
leads to action. 

The national temper in Turkey is conservative ; 
but, as I have said, the Turk is always a willing 
listener to the ideas and the reformative proposals 
of foreigners. Despite tenacious traditions, the 
women of Turkey are feeling the influence of that 
fervent feminism that is inspiring the women of 
the West. There is, perhaps, more hope for Turk- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 167 

ish women in this movement than for any of the 
women of Europe. And a reason for thinking so 
is based upon the modesty and reasonableness of 
their demands and the method pursued. Already 
men in Turkey are attentive to the arguments of 
cultivated women, and there is, as yet, no apparent 
masculine opposition. 

The Young Turkey Party, in the opinion of 
Mrs. Garnett, advocates the emancipation of 
women. The Turk is pre-occupied with women, 
but this pre-occupation does not spell only one 
kind of interest. The great feminists among men 
are the great lovers of women, the admirers of 
womanly beauty, grace and wit. 

We have noted that the haremlik has reached a 
stage of something like unpopularity. Polygamy 
is not likely to give place rapidly to universal 
monogamy in Turkey. We might as well expect 
to banish polygyny suddenly from Western soci- 
eties. But the stricter rule of the seraglio is relax- 
ing. Even doctors are allowed to enter the 
harems. Culture is invading the sacred precincts 
of "the Abode of Bliss," and culture brings a long- 
ing for a freer life. The West of Europe is setting 
Turkey an example, for good or ill, and Turkey 
is at least heedful and interested. The ground is 
being sown. What will the future yield? 



1 68 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Is East eternally East? Turkey, at all events, 
is the most sensitive of all Eastern nations to the 
influence of outside social movements. In certain 
respects she admires England, and is willing to 
imitate English customs. Not even the influence 
of Mohammedism can withstand the irresistible 
force of human thought and social progress. 
Probably much that is admirable in Turkish cus- 
tom will decline with the incoming of Western in- 
dustrial and commercial ideals. Possibly there 
will be social gain also. Who can foretell? That 
which we laud as progress in the West is not al- 
ways a boon to the East. 

Are we happier in our pseudo-monogamic, jost- 
ling, commercial, spiritually-deadening civilisa- 
tion? The answer is doubtful to all but the unre- 
flective. 

Pierre Loti, who feels, like a true artist, the 
strange enchantment of the Orient, has interested 
himself very closely in the affairs of Turkey. He 
has many friends in the country, and his penetrat- 
ing mind discerns all the signs and symptoms of 
impending changes in the position of Turkish 
women. 

Loti's novel "Disenchanted" reveals the soul of 
a woman in the haremlik. He tells us in his 
preface that the volume is one of fiction. But the 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 169 

author insists that it is entirely true, in so far as it 
demonstrates the advance in culture among the 
women of Turkey secluded in the seraglios. This 
spread of knowledge is yielding the inevitable dis- 
satisfaction that the repressed sex naturally experi- 
ence when they begin to reflect. The Woman 
Movement and Labour Unrest spring everywhere 
from education. 

Sober-minded and thoughtful Turks are begin- 
ning to ponder on the Woman Question. They 
foresee that educated women will rebel sooner or 
later against many of the old traditions of religion 
and society. The spirit of England and France is 
permeating the harems. Women dress in the 
English and French fashions; they demand Eng- 
lish furniture and pianos. They are learning 
foreign languages, and reading the literature of 
the West. Some of the Turkish ladies eagerly im- 
bibe the new social ideas. 

Pierre Loti's romance is not merely a pathetic 
story. It is a contribution to the sociology of the 
Near East. The heroine voices the aspirations of 
the new woman of Turkey. She cries out for 
light, for liberty in the supreme matter of choice 
in love, and for contact with the great world out- 
side of the seraglio. The novel describes faith- 
fully the narrow environment in which harem 



1 7 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

women live. Loti shows how the disenchanted 
yearn for love. The heroine of the story says : — 

"She has achieved the sort of duality of identity which is 
common to many Turkish women of her age and rank, who say : 
'My person is delivered over by contract to an unknown man, 
and I devote it to him because I am an honest woman ; but my 
soul, which was not consulted, is still my own, and I keep it 
with jealous reserve for an ideal lover whom I may never meet 
with, and who in any case will never know anything about it.' ' : 

The heroine of Loti's romance refers to the lone- 
liness of seraglio life: — 

"The sense of emptiness which is produced in our life by the 
necessity of never talking to any but women, of living always 
among ourselves, our fellow-women. Our friends ? but, mercy ; 
they are as weak and as weary as we are ! In our harems weak- 
ness — so many weaknesses rather, combined and huddled to- 
gether, are sick at heart, suffer the more from being what they 
are, and cry out for strength.' ' 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE HAREM IN MODERN EGYPT 

The significance of the word harem has been in- 
terpreted variously as "that which is forbidden" 
and the "Abode of Bliss." These establishments, 
in which women are segregated in luxurious sur- 
roundings, exist in much of their former splendour 
in Cairo to-day. 

The round, central hall, roofed with a high 
dome, is in some harems about one hundred and 
fifty feet across. Around this spacious apartment 
are divans of red velvet. In the centre there is, in 
some instances, a sunk circular bath. 

The following description of the interior of a 
regal harem in Egypt is taken chiefly from Miss 
Lott's "Harem Life in Turkey and Egypt." 

The whole of the floor is covered with a thick, 
handmade carpet, very soft to the tread. Women 
and eunuchs pass to and fro noiselessly. 

Innumerable doors, each one a mirror, surround 
the interior of the great hall. These are the en- 
tries to the apartments of the women. In all these 
chambers is a connecting door through which the 

pasha can pass at will. The walls are very beau- 

171 



172 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

tifully decorated with painted panels of birds and 
flowers in gorgeous colours. In many harems the 
bath is in one of the arms or wings, or in a separate 
building in the gardens. A solid stone wall, thirty 
feet in height, encompasses the palace and the de- 
lightful gardens. 

The chief apartments of a Grand Pasha's 
daughters in Cairo have been described by Emme- 
line Lott, in her book on "Harem Life," as two 
large saloons. The carpets are of the finest 
Brussels. On the carpets are innumerable spots 
of melted wax that have fallen from the candles 
carried in the fingers of the slaves. Divans, cov- 
ered with fine red damask satin, surround the 
room. 

A tall mirror reaches from the floor to the ceil- 
ing. In one corner of the mirror fruit and flow- 
ers are painted; in others, musical instruments, 
weapons, and the crescent. The marble tables are 
supported on gilt legs, and upon each table is a 
silver chandelier holding eight candles. The 
candles have red glass shades, adorned with paint- 
ings of flowers. 

Seven rooms, approached from the saloons, are 
used as bedchambers. One of these rooms had a 
divan covered with striped red and green damask, 
standing near a window overlooking the pasha's 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 173 

garden. Damask hangings were attached to the 
window and the door. No blankets are used, but 
a wadded coverlet was spread on the bed. Land- 
scapes were painted on the ceiling, from which was 
suspended a huge gilded chandelier. On the 
walls were designs of flowers. 

In the lovely scented gardens were myrtle 
hedges enclosing borders of luxuriant roses. 
Jessamine, with white and yellow blossoms three 
times the size of these flowers in England, trailed 
everywhere. Dazzling geraniums carpeted some 
of the beds. The air was odorous with the leaves 
of the verbena tree and the rose. Oranges and 
many other fruits abound. Huge cacti and 
strange Indian plants flourish here. 

The square sheets of ornamental water have each 
their pagoda of white marble. Within these are 
comfortable divans. Around the lakes are ter- 
races of marble, with vases decked with sweet- 
smelling flowers. China cushions, exquisitely 
painted to resemble silk, are placed at the corners 
of the terraces. Upon the gates of the garden are 
life-size marble figures of lions. In the gardens 
are statues of nude men and women. 

Marble lions adorn the terrace steps leading to 
the pleasure boats. Swans, black and white, swim 
in the clear water. Numerous aquatic birds of the 



i 7 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

most beautiful plumage frequent the lakes. On 
the roof of the pagoda Egyptian crows, with 
sheeny black wings, build their nests. 

There are mazes in these fairy gardens formed 
of myrtle hedges. Near the mazes are huge 
marble fountains, the basins supported by female 
figures from whose mouths sparkling water spurts. 
In the centre of one fountain is an immense statue, 
in marble, of Ceres, carrying on her hand a basket 
of fruit and flowers, coloured in imitation of na- 
ture. The goddess holds in her hand a cornucopia 
filled with ears of wheat and bunches of black and 
white grapes. 

Around the fountains are terraces of marble 
upon which stand light ironwork tables and 
couches. The fountains are surrounded and 
shaded by weeping willows, and among the trees 
are numerous statues. 

Every garden has its swings for the women. 
Swinging is a favourite Oriental pastime, and in 
some of the temples of India swings are provided 
for both men and women. In the paintings of 
the school of Watteau, women are frequently rep- 
resented in swings, surrounded by admiring gal- 
lants. 

The swings of the harem gardens are shaped 
like barouches, and recall the swing-boats of our 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 175 

English fairs. They are fitted with cushions. 
From the garden one passes into a superb hall 
floored with marble, and with a ceiling gleaming 
with gold, supported by twenty-eight to thirty pink 
marble columns with carved capitals. 

In another sumptuous harem, the halls are of 
marble, surrounded by a verandah, with many 
columns of porphyry. Vases, with rams' heads, 
and horns as handles, stand on the terraces, and 
are filled with choice semi-tropical plants. At 
night the verandah is illuminated by gilt lamps. 
The gorgeous rooms of this palace are carpeted 
with a material resembling the softest green mosses 
of several shades. All the ceilings in the larger 
chambers are painted with designs and figures of 
men, women, and animals, or scenes in Cairo and 
Alexandria, Cleopatra's Needle, and parts of the 
banks of the Nile. Four immense stained glass 
windows shed a tinted light in the hall. The 
hangings of the doors and windows are of white 
satin, upon which flowers are printed. 

There are no divans here, but chairs, sofas, and 
footstools of ormolu and gold. Almost the whole 
of the wall space is occupied by high glittering 
mirrors, giving the effect of a huge glass curtain. 
The clock on the mantelpiece is of modern manu- 
facture, much gilded. Two massive candelabras 



176 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

are on either side, each holding twelve wax 
candles. 

A drawing-room adjoining is decked with blue 
satin drapery, and furnished in a similar manner 
to the large saloon. The dining room has a carved 
oak table, which has accommodation for thirty to 
forty guests. It is curious to note that the backs 
of the oak chairs are shaped like a bishop's mitre. 
A beautiful green carpet, studded with groups of 
raised moss-roses, covers the floor of the dining- 
room. Mitre-shaped panels are on the walls. 

A chandelier, with a hundred coloured wax 
candles, hangs from the splendid stained-glass 
roof. Besides this chandelier, there are branching 
candlesticks on the walls. The drapery of the 
doors and windows is green velvet and satin, looped 
up with gold tassels. 

Such are the comforts and luxuries of the 
harems owned by the influential pashas of Egypt. 
Every device of art is used in the decoration of 
these palaces, which reflect faintly the joys that 
await the true believer in the Seventh Heaven. 
Beautiful women of other lands come gladly to 
share the luxuries of this indolent life, hoping to 
win the costly gifts that the lords of the harems 
bestow upon their favourites. There is no lack of 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 177 

candidates for the honour of consorting with a 
wealthy pasha or bey. In Syria, Circassia, Ar- 
menia, Italy, and Austria there are girls whose 
greatest ambition is to enter the harem. 

Men of coloured races generally admire greatly 
the women of white races. Circassian women, 
who are perhaps the most beautiful and graceful 
of their sex, are highly valued in the harems of 
the East. Rarely an English woman resolves to 
become the bride of a pasha, and, rejecting her 
faith and all her traditions, enters the harem. 

At ten years of age the girls purchased by the 
pasha enter the palace. The age of puberty in 
girls is reached in most Eastern countries at about 
eleven. Upon joining the houris, the novice is 
trained thoroughly in her duties. Various means 
are employed for developing and beautifying the 
body by means of diet, baths, and constant massage. 
This preparation for marriage lasts for about 
twelve months. 

The elaborate massage gives to the skin the 
colour and velvety softness of a peach. Great at- 
tention is given to manicure and pedicure. The 
tresses are continually combed, oiled, and scented, 
and odorous pomades are used for the whole of the 
body. 



178 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Each group of six girls is attended by a young 
eunuch, who is instructed in his duties by an older 
eunuch. 

Slave girls were formerly chosen in public once 
a year by the sovereign. A circular was published 
in the spring-time, announcing that about fifty 
girls are required from the age of twelve to eight- 
een. They were required to be pretty in features, 
well-shaped in figure, with copious, long hair. 
At an appointed hour the candidates assembled in 
an open space or market place, dressed in their 
finest garments. 

The royal purchaser arrived upon the scene at- 
tended by his secretary, officials, several physicians 
and servants. One after another the eager girls 
were paraded under the direction of one of the 
principal doctors. They were ordered to display 
their bosoms, legs and arms, and to let loose their 
tresses. A severe scrutiny of the teeth followed. 
The girls were then commanded to stoop, walk, 
and show how they smiled. At a nod of their 
future owner's head, they were selected, and the 
secretary wrote down their names. The parents, 
who stood by, were told that the girls must be at 
the harem on the following morning. 

Gleeful congratulations were showered upon the 
happy, smiling maidens who were chosen. They 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 179 

were complimented and flattered by their relatives 
and friends. The rejected damsels retired in 
groups, and throwing themselves on the ground, 
wept and groaned for their bitter misfortune. 
They knew that this want of success would seri- 
ously deteriorate their value. 

In the future it would be difficult to remove this 
stigma of uncomeliness. Rich men would not 
want them; they were destined to marry a poor 
man of their own class. Not for them were the 
luxuries, the gifts, and the pleasures of the harem 
life. Consoled by their companions, they dis- 
persed, sore at heart and crying. Very early the 
next morning the fortunate girls hastened to the 
palace and presented themselves. 



CHAPTER XVII 

WOMEN IN THE HAREM 

In the poetry of Arabia the most loved and ad- 
mired of maidens is lithe in body and u elegant as 
a twig of the Oriental willow." The beauty meet 
for the bride of a pasha must own luxuriant hair of 
the deepest black. Her cheeks should be rosy in 
the centre, and a mole, or beauty spot, is an added 
charm. Blue eyes are not usually prized; the 
eyes should be black, large, and almond-shaped, 
full of yearning softness, with long, drooping 
lashes. The eyebrows must be arched and not 
thick. 

A small mouth is esteemed, and the nose should 
be straight. Bright, ruddy lips should reveal reg- 
ular, small, white teeth. The breasts must be firm, 
rounded, and not large. A slender waist is an es- 
sential charm, and so is a fullness of the hips. 
The tapering fingers should not be large, and the 
feet well-formed and small. 

The eyes of the Oriental belle are very beauti- 
ful and expressive, and their glance is rendered 
more conspicuous by the veil which covers the 
lower features. In Andalusia, where there is a 

180 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 181 

Moorish strain in the people, the "black eye that 
mocks her coal-black veil" often glows with an 
extraordinary fascination from the white, moon- 
like faces of the women. Even more lambent are 
the glances of an Egyptian woman. 

Miss Sara Jeanette Duncan, in "A Social De- 
parture," speaks of the eyes of the women of Cairo 
— "conscious, tantalising eyes that shine lustrous 
between their blackened fringes, with a gilt 
wooden tube between and a good long strip of 
yashmak hanging from it, making a mystery of 
nose and lips and chin. They may all be beautiful 
— the presumption is against it, but the possibility 
is always there, and with crows' feet gathered too 
palpably above the yashmak, the eyes express the 
possibility in the most alluring manner — knowing 
very well that you are thinking of it, secure in the 
knowledge that you can't find out." 

In his "Eastern Sketches" Thackeray writes of 
the Circassian beauties: "It is the Circassian 
blood, I suppose, to which the Turkish aristocracy 
that governs Egypt must be indebted for the fair- 
ness of their skin. Ibrahim Pasha, riding by in 
his barouche, looked like a bluff, jolly-faced Eng- 
lish Dragoon officer, with a grey moustache and 
red cheeks, such as you might see on a field-day at 
Maidstone." 



1 82 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

"The ladies whom we saw were equally fair, 
that is, the very slight particles of the persons of 
ladies which our lucky eyes were permitted to gaze 
on. These lovely creatures go through the town 
by parties of three or four, mounted on donkeys, 
and attended by slaves holding on at the crupper, 
to receive the lovely riders lest they should fall, 
and shouting out shrill cries of 'Schmaalek' 
'Amlenck' (or however else these words may be 
pronounced), and flogging on the progress right 
and left with the buffalo-thong. But the dear 
creatures are even more closely disguised than at 
Constantinople; their bodies are enveloped with a 
large black silk hood, like a cab head; the fashion 
seemed to be to spread their arms out, and give 
their covering all the amplitude of which it was 
capable, as they beamed an ogled you from under 
their black masks with their big rolling eyes. The 
Arab women are some of the noblest figures I have 
ever seen. The habit of carrying jars on the head 
always gives the figure grace and motion, and the 
dress the women wear certainly displays it to full 
advantage." 

The Persians are not so enthusiastic as the Arabs 
in their admiration for black eyes. They prefer 
gray eyes, or those that flash with the colour of red 
wine. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 183 

El-Sett Budur, in the "Arabian Nights," may be 
taken as a type of Eastern loveliness. Her hair 
was dark brown, and hung in three tresses that 
reached to her feet. 

"Her cheeks are formed of an anemone divided 
into two corollas; they have the purple tinge of 
wine, and her nose is straighter and more delicate 
than the finest sword-blade." 

"Her lips are coloured agate and coral; her 
tongue secretes eloquence; her saliva is more de- 
sirable than the juice of grapes." 

"But her bosom, blessed be the Creator, is a liv- 
ing seduction. It bears twin breasts of the purest 
ivory, rounded, and that may be held within the 
five fingers of one hand." 

Lane refers to the delightful moulding of the 
Egyptian woman's body, and says that fine forms 
are commoner than entirely beautiful faces. 
Many of the Nubian girls are extremely lovely, 
and willowy in figure. "Blacker is her hair than 
the darkness of night, blacker than the berries of 
the blackberry bush," runs an Egyptian inscrip- 
tion in the Louvre. 

The older ideal of a graceful woman in Egypt 
was slenderness in form, resembling Psyche, or the 
figure of a boy. On the ancient paintings of the 
walls, and in statuary, it is often difficult to dis- 



1 84 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

tinguish the men from the women. There is a 
strong facial likeness in the sexes even at this day. 

In the time of the Ptolemys, the standard of fe- 
male beauty seems to have changed, and we find in 
the statues a tendency to represent women as stouter 
in body, with curving outlines. From this period 
women seem to have cultivated plumpness. The 
chief characteristics of an Egyptian beauty were 
brilliant eyes, a soft skin, and a full figure. In 
Turkey most women desire to be fat, and they eat 
fattening food for that purpose. It is said that 
women of Eastern countries maintain the firmness 
of their flesh much longer than their sisters of the 
West. 

The beards of the men in Egypt are much ad- 
mired by women. A man should have a flowing 
beard, and a woman long hair. Herodotus states 
that the priests of ancient Egypt cut off their 
beards as a mark of sorrow and mourning. The 
Jews also cultivated the long beard. 

Women in the harems of Cairo strive to increase 
the size and the brightness of their dark eyes by the 
use of kohl, which was a custom of the older days 
in Israel, and is still practised in India. To en- 
hance the blackness and expression of the eyes 
Egyptian women of all classes stain the eyelids 
with galena. The lashes are also darkened. 




EGYPTIAN GIRLS AT THEBES 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 185 

The origin of veiling the faces of Mohammedan 
women is actually much older than the advent of 
Mohammed. This custom prevailed in very early 
times among the Arabs. In ancient Arabia men 
of fine and attractive countenances wore the veil as 
a defence against the glance of malign spirits. 
Havelock Ellis suggests that this may have been 
the source of the practice of veiling amongst 
women. 

As clothing is frequently employed more as an 
erotic lure than as a protection against cold, or 
from reasons of modesty, it is likely that the Arab 
veil was adopted by women as an attraction. The 
domino and the veil arouse curiosity concerning 
the features that they conceal, just as clothing ex- 
cites interest in the charms that it hides. This is 
proved by the fact that savage courtesans, among 
tribes wherein the women are nude, put on gar- 
ments as a token of their calling and a lure to the 
eye. Undoubtedly, the Eastern veil focusses inter- 
est and curiosity upon the face. 

An Eastern song sets forth the loveliness of 
women in these lines: — 

"The complexion of my love is like the freshness 
of the velvet-looking jessamine ; her face is as re- 
splendent as the bright, bright moon; her lips are 
as rosy as the choicest wine, and her lily-white 



1 86 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

bosom the fairest and softest-looking that an amor- 
ous youth ever beheld." 

"Oh! beauteous creature, the perfume of whose 
breath is like the grateful odour of the musk rose, 
allow me to sip sweets from thy ruby lips, and 
pour forth into thy ear the passion that consumes 
my heart." 

The Circassian women who recruit the harems 
of Turkey and Egypt are the flowers of their race. 
Many have blue eyes and fair complexions, and 
their forms are exquisite. Their native costumes 
are perhaps unattractive to Western eyes. They 
are clad in baggy trousers of white staff, and a sort 
of dark coat that reaches from the neck almost to 
the ankles. A gaudy shawl is twisted about the 
body around the waist and loins. Their plentiful 
hair falls in long, thick plaits. Upon the head they 
wear a gauze veil. 

Bodenstedt, a poet and an accredited critic of 
womanly beauty, declares that the Georgians are 
a very handsome race, but he does not consider 
that the women excel the men in beauty. The 
women's faces seemed to this writer lacking in in- 
telligence and refinement. "In a Georgian every- 
thing fades with youth. The eyes, which, notwith- 
standing their apparent fire, never expressed any- 
thing but calm and voluptuous indolence, lose their 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 187 

lustre; the nose, which even in its normal relations 
exceeds the limits of beauty, assumes, in conse- 
quence of the premature hollowness of the cheeks, 
such abnormal dimensions that many people imag- 
ine that it actually continues to grow; and the 
bosom, which the national costume makes no effort 
to conceal, prematurely loses its natural firmness 
— all of which phenomena are observed in Euro- 
pean women much less frequently, and in a less 
exaggerated form. If you add to this the habit, 
so prevalent among Georgians, young and old, of 
using white and red cosmetics, you will understand 
that such rude and inartistic arts of the toilet can 
only add to the observer's sense of dissatisfaction." 

The wealthy owner of a seraglio often selects 
those Circassian women who are most susceptible 
to blushing. A capacity for blushing adds to a 
girl's monetary value in the harem market. 

The custom of the women of the Abode of Bliss 
is to dress in their daintiest attire for the pleasure 
of their husbands in the home; but out-of-doors 
they often wear plain and unattractive clothes. 
When not invited to the presence of the pasha, the 
girls often wear dowdy, untidy costumes in the 
harem. 

Romantic love, based upon highly refined senti- 
ment and mutual esteem, as it is understood in the 



188 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

older Western nations, is perhaps rarely associated 
with polygamy and love in the harem. Neverthe- 
less, in the single marriages, which are the rule 
amongst the greater number of Turks and Egyp- 
tians, there is often intense conjugal devotion. 

In a very ancient collection of Aryan maxims, 
by Hala, there are sentiments which show that the 
love of men and women was not wholly of the 
senses. A lover speaks thus: "As in sickness 
without a physician ; as living with relatives when 
one is poor; as the sight of an enemy's prosperity 
— so is it difficult to endure separation from you." 

It is easy to accept the monogamic principle in 
marriage as the noblest and highest form of love 
between the sexes, and to dismiss all possibility of 
lofty emotion and refined feeling from the harem 
marriage. I have heard more than one Western 
woman, living under Eastern custom, assert that 
polygamy possessed many advantages for their 
sex, and solved the problem of the enforced 
celibacy which is common among whole masses of 
women in the monogamous countries. One of 
these ladies professed a strong preference for "the 
sheltered, protected life of the women of the East." 

Let us survey a part of the teaching of the apostle 
of the creed of Islam referring to men's relations 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 189 

to women. Among them we shall find several pre- 
cepts that point to an esteem for the mother and 
wife. 

First, in regard to mothers, Mohammed affirmed 
that "Heaven lieth at the feet of mothers." 

Celibacy, which is one of the anomalies of West- 
ern civilisation, is forbidden in the saying: "Mar- 
riage is incumbent on all who possess the ability. 
There is no monasticism in Islam." 

In the treatment of wives the Moslem is in- 
structed to "admonish with kindness." 

"Do you beat your wife as you would a slave? 
That you must not do." 

"He is of the most perfect Moslems whose dis- 
position is most liked by his own family." 

"A virtuous wife is a man's best treasure." 

Infidelity is severely censured, even if not ac- 
tual, but of the imagination. 

"Now the adultery of the eye is to look with an 
eye of desire on the wife of another; and the adult- 
ery of the tongue is to utter what is forbidden." 

May we not believe that throughout the Orient 
the following beautiful conception of passionate 
love is cherished by many men and women?: — 

"Four eyes met. There were changes in two 
souls. And now I cannot remember whether he 



190 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

is a man and I a woman. Or he is a woman and I 
a man. All I know is, there were two. Love 
came and there is one." 

On the other hand, the segregation of women has 
its flagrant disadvantages. There can be no true 
social intercourse between the sexes, and no re- 
ciprocal understanding of each other's spiritual 
and mental needs and aspirations in societies 
wherein men and women move in entirely separate 
spheres. A girl entering the harem at twelve 
years is destined for the rest of her life, unless she 
deserts, to spend long indolent days in the company 
of her own sex. 

Her sole desire is to become an ikbal, a petted 
plaything of her master, and to receive his lavish 
gifts and favours. The outside world scarcely ex- 
ists for her. Too often she has had little or no 
education; she lives divorced from culture, and 
knows nothing of the great movements in modern 
thought. The dressing of her hair, the polishing 
of her nails, and such preservation of her external 
charms are her chief and constant care. She 
speaks to no man but the pasha and her emascu- 
lated attendants. Certain privileges are vouch- 
safed to her when she becomes a mother, and there 
is then more occupation for her energies. But so 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 191 

long as she is childless, the days are idle, vapid, and 
productive of ennui. 

The odalisque amuses herself with childish 
games and diversions. She smokes the Eastern 
pipe, with its glass bowl and long tube, as she 
squats on the languorous divan. Enervated by 
laziness, and bored from lack of employment for 
brain or hands, she seeks the solace of hashish, 
opium, and strong liquors. The bath, massage, 
and dressing occupy only a small part of the day. 
For the rest, she merely lounges, smoking or eat- 
ing sweetmeats. 1 

Hashish, or fakir's plant, produces dreaminess 
without loss of consciousness, and many of the 
inmates of the harem use it freely. After taking 
it a strong thirst ensues, which is quenched with 
sherbet or wine. 

The use of perfumes of a powerful odour is com- 
mon throughout Islam. Mohammed, according 

1 Thackeray refers to the alleged indecency of the women of 
the Cairo harems, in his " Eastern Sketches " : " All their 
humour, my Dragoman tells me, is of the questionable sort, and 
a young Egyptian gentleman, son of a Pasha, whom I subse- 
quently met at Malta, confirmed the statement, and gave a de- 
tail of the practices of private life which was anything but edify- 
ing. . . . He could give us no idea, he said, of the wit of 
the Egyptian women and their skill in double entendre; nor I 
presume, did we lose much by our ignorance." 



192 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

to his favourite wife Ayesha, was very fond of the 
scent of musk and ambergris, and liked to smell 
camphor burning amongst wood. Musk is a 
favourite scent. It is popular in the Eastern 
harems, and is known as "the noblest of perfumes." 
Castoreum, vanilla, myrrh, otto of roses, sandal, 
and the perfumes from strongly-odorous flowers, 
such as the lily and tuberose, are all used. 

Henna, used for staining the finger nails, gives 
forth a peculiar sweet odour. The flowers are 
often used in the harems to scent the body. 

In spite of the religious injunction to avoid al- 
coholic liquors, wine is generally imbibed in the 
seraglios. 

Under conditions in which one man controls sev- 
eral wives and a large regiment of concubines, it 
is obvious that polygamy does not solve adequately 
the problem of celibacy for women. Such an 
overplus of women for one man is an anomaly; and 
it is not necessary that I should be more explicit 
in allusion to this defect in the harem system. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE GUARDIANS OF THE SERAGLIO 

A LARGE staff of overseers, nurses, and servants is 
necessary for the proper conduct of a rich man's 
harem. The autocrat, and very frequently the ty- 
rant, of the palace is the Chief Eunuch, who di- 
rects a number of subordinate eunuchs, and super- 
vises the whole of the servants who attend upon the 
wives, ikbals, and their lord and master, the pasha. 

The profession of eunuch in Egypt is a very old 
one. Figures of these functionaries appear on the 
oldest Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. The 
head eunuch of antiquity was a personage of great 
influence in the world of the seraglio ; and he seems 
to have been, in some cases, the confidential com- 
panion of kings and nobles, as well as the custodian 
of the concubines. 

The royal Chief Eunuch holds an exalted posi- 
tion in the palace. He wears a gorgeous uniform, 
and is seen constantly at state ceremonies and social 
assemblies. In political affairs he possesses con- 
siderable influence. In all the aristocratic harems 
the Grand Eunuch is feared by the women and 
the servants, for their lives are practically in his 
hands. 

193 



i 9 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

An insubordinate or troublesome odalisque may 
soon find herself singled out for punishment if she 
offends the Chief Eunuch. It is said that eunuchs 
of all ranks frequently accept bribes from the 
women of the harems, and that some become very 
rich from this source. Every ambitious girl 
yearns to shine in the palace as an ikbal, and it is 
within the eunuch's power to assist her in this pro- 
motion from the common file to a position of high 
privilege. 

The Chief Eunuch needs to exercise much vigi- 
lance in protecting the favourites of the pasha. 
Jealousy is extremely common in the harems, and 
all kinds of plots are hatched against the ikbals to 
bring them into disfavour with their lord. At- 
tempts are sometimes made to poison the favourite 
of the pasha. Envy engenders all manner of mali- 
cious chatter and deliberate slander. The making 
or the undoing of an ikbal rests largely in the hands 
of the superior eunuch and those immediately be- 
neath him in rank and influence. 

In an affluent pasha's harem the highest caste 
among the ladies are the Kadens, the beautiful 
Circassians, who are especially loved by their 
owner. The Odalisques come next; and these 
women are the attendants, or maids of honour, on 
the pasha. The favoured woman of a brief reign 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 195 

is the Ikbal. When she becomes pregnant she is 
raised to the status of a Kaden. The Oustas are 
female servants of the household, who wait upon 
the wives and the ikbals. The Dadas are the 
nurses of the numerous children. Beneath all 
these grades are the slaves of lowly birth and of 
alien race. 

Early in the growth of polygamy the powerful 
man who surrounded himself with women, pur- 
chased or captured, discovered that his wives often 
exhibited errant desires. Men of less influence in 
the community envied his good fortune in the 
possession of several women ; and they often used 
means to seduce his wives from their fidelity. 
Romances of the harem abound in the stories 
of elopement, intrigue, clandestine assignations, 
stolen visits to the palace by night, the forcible ab- 
duction of ikbals, and the murder of eunuchs and 
guards by hired bravos and professional stranglers. 

A pasha lives, like the mediaeval baron of Eng- 
land, in a fortified palace, or castle, with men-at- 
arms for the protection of his personal property. 
The armed eunuch came into existence as a neces- 
sary defence against the men who coveted the wives 
of their more fortunate neighbours. It was essen- 
tial also that the women should be closely watched 
and kept under lock and key, for the human nature 



196 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

of women is like that of men, subject to variability 
in love, and apt to revolt against the strictest 
domestic conventions. 

Now, a normal man, placed in guardianship of 
a number of young and charming women, is natu- 
rally exposed to very palpable temptation. In a 
word, he was not considered a safe chaperon and 
overseer. The risks of his defection from his re- 
sponsible duties must be reduced as much as possi- 
ble. He must be deprived of his masculinity. 

Boys are dedicated to this profession from birth, 
and many of them aspire to enter this service. It 
is said that even to-day young boys of colour are 
sometimes abducted when the demand for more 
eunuchs arises. In other cases they are purchased 
by the Chief Eunuch and handed over to the sur- 
geon. 

The effect of emasculation must be noted, for it 
is of importance in a study of harem life. That 
the operation fails to achieve its chief purpose is 
fairly well known. Women of the seraglios have 
been known to elope with eunuchs and to marry 
them. 

The result upon the secondary sexual characters 
are several, and very marked. There is a change 
in structure and appearance. The legs tend to 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 197 

lengthen; and in Cairo eunuchs are often recog- 
nised in crowds by their height. It is not true that 
the emasculated man is always dwarfed in stature. 
The voice becomes high-pitched and penetrating. 
From the musical point of view the Italian pro- 
fessional castrati, among singers, possess exception- 
ally beautiful voices. 

Generally speaking, the male characteristics 
are lessened and modified. The guardians of the 
harem are often dull, inactive, and effeminate in 
their habits. Some tend to obesity. It is doubt- 
ful whether the moral qualities suffer to the ex- 
tent that is usually believed. But it is stated that 
many of these neuter men are exceedingly sly, cun- 
ning, and perfidious. 

It is generally believed that eunuchs are lacking 
in courage, and that they show certain docile, tim- 
orous, and cowardly traits. This has, however, 
been denied in some instances. The guardians of 
the harems are reputed to be extremely cruel. This 
attribute may derive from their changed physical 
qualities, but it is probably a normal manifestation 
of Oriental indifference to suffering and the stoi- 
cism long inculcated by precept and example. 

An Egyptian will flog a servant until he faints. 
Many are the accounts of Eastern severity and ex- 



i 9 8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

cessive callousness to the pain endured by others. 
Torture still exists in several parts of the East as 
a corrective and a penalty for crime, 

I know the English wife of an eminent Moor, 
who related to me her sensations of horror and in- 
dignation when she saw her husband cruelly thrash 
a slave-boy, on the bare back, with a cane until the 
blood flowed. She could not reconcile this utter 
indifference in the infliction of suffering upon a 
helpless servant with her husband's conjugal ten- 
derness and his kindness to his own children. 

The imperturbability that the Oriental often dis- 
plays in the contemplation of pain, and the com- 
mission of acts that appear to us as grossly cruel, is 
a subject of great psychological interest and im- 
portance. 

"About the only good and conspicuous virtue 
that we possess in England," said to me an ex-min- 
ister of the Church, "is our kindness and considera- 
tion towards animals." In the Mohammedan 
religion the believer is enjoined to show kindness 
to brutes and clemency for slaves. Nevertheless, 
the counsel is frequently, and indeed commonly, 
set aside when anger is aroused. And apparently 
much of the cruelty of the East is purposive and 
carefully devised. 

The source of Oriental apathy in relation to 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 199 

pain, and the seeming enjoyment in inflicting 
physical suffering arises probably from a certain 
obtuseness of the nerves. When we see the fakirs 
of Cairo, and elsewhere, walking with bare feet 
upon bayonet points, and otherwise injuring and 
mutilating the flesh, as an exhibition of stoicism, 
we have a marked instance of the Eastern capacity 
for enduring pain. He who stands torments with- 
out an outcry is often unsympathetic at the spec- 
tacle of another man's manifest bodily anguish, 
and may even derive pleasure from witnessing the 
effect of pain. 

Physiologically, the Eastern people show an ap- 
titude for the personal toleration and the infliction 
of suffering. Pain is the common lot; it must be 
endured by oneself and imposed upon others. 
Fatalistic doctrines foster the personal endurance 
of physical and mental travails. That which is 
must be suffered uncomplainingly. 

Cruelty loses its Western connotation in most 
parts of Africa and Asia. It was the humane, cul- 
tured, and artistic Moors who introduced bull- 
fighting into Spain. To-day, in Northern Africa, 
and in several parts of Asia, one does not expect to 
find any conception of kindness to animals as it is 
practised in many Western societies. In Spain, the 
Morisco influence has, no doubt, some relation to 



200 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the callous treatment of horses and other domestic 
animals. The Spaniard, who treats his wife and 
children with tender affection, may show a callous 
disregard for the suffering of his horse or mule. 

Probably the women of Egypt expect a certain 
amount of harshness and physical force on the part 
of husbands. In variable forms we observe this 
predilection for the aggressive, forceful man 
among a vast number of women of the Western 
civilisations. The role of woman in love is more 
or less passive, actual or assumed, and in spite of 
the denials of some of the advanced feminists, 
many women like to realise masculine superiority 
in the matter of muscular strength. Some women 
even court and demand subordination at the hands 
of the men. 

Marriage by capture, in modern primitive com- 
munities, is frequently a mere burlesque of ancient 
abduction. But the women would not be content 
if their suitors showed no roughness; and they 
simulate resistance by scratching, kicking and bit- 
ing. Among the Bedouins of to-day, the bride is 
carried away forcibly by the bridegroom and his 
"best men." The girl resists stoutly, often wound- 
ing the young men with stones. It is her full in- 
tention to marry her captor, but she must keep up 
the fashion of resistance. And the more she kicks, 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 201 

bites, and scratches, the more is she esteemed by 
her friends, and presumably by her husband. 

Sometimes an Arab bride will resist her hus- 
band after the ceremony, when established in his 
tent as duly wedded. In such cases, she expects to 
be beaten, and there is reason to suppose that she 
likes chastisement. 

In the Indian Kama Sutra there are directions 
for whipping women, and the women, though they 
raise protests, would be surprised, and probably 
disappointed, if the husband failed to recognise 
the time-honoured custom. "A dear one's blows 
hurt not long." "The Perfumed Garden" of the 
Arabs contains several allusions to castigation. 

Western morality regards such chastisement 
with reprobation and horror. Let us remember 
that, in certain very significant directions, the 
Orientals excel us in the art of love, and especially 
in their desire to charm and please women. The 
blunt, matter-of-fact British lover — who, though 
good-natured enough, is often devoid of delicacy 
and an understanding of women's natures — is not a 
very successful wooer in the East. Many Hindu 
women are extremely candid when discussing the 
difference between the Western men and those of 
their own race. 

Not three hundred years ago we thrashed women 



202 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

publicly in the streets of London. Gentlewomen 
flogged their maid-servants, apparently with zest; 
and Judge Jeffreys, in sentencing a woman to be 
scourged, charged the hangman to ply the whip 
"till her blood runs down." Even nowadays, in 
England, women, and especially children, are often 
beaten with extreme cruelty. As evidence we 
may inspect the museum of torture instruments 
formed by the Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to children. 

The infliction of pain upon others is associated 
with rites of self-mortification, penance, and pious 
fasting. In all religions that prescribe self-im- 
posed torture we shall find an indifference to pain 
cultivated as a tradition. And such capacity for 
enduring painful penances explains, in part, the 
lack of sensitivity in causing bodily suffering to 
one's dependents, or to heretics and delinquents. 

The severities formerly meted by the eunuchs to 
offenders in the household were said to be fero- 
cious. 



CHAPTER XIX 

HAREM INTRIGUES AND SCANDALS 

POLYGAMY, as exemplified by the harem system, 
favours intrigue. Even the ikbal of a great and 
influential pasha, though much petted and lavishly 
endowed with money and fine jewels, often sighs 
for a real and romantic love affair. She may have 
entered the harem at a tender age, knowing very 
little indeed of the needs of her heart and dormant 
emotional nature. Her owner may show her much 
favour and kindness, and treat her with a courteous 
respect. And yet discontent and restlessness assail 
her. She may loathe the very hand that caresses 
her. 

While the rulers of the harem exercise the most 
cautious and elaborate selection in the purchase of 
their mistresses, no such choice is open to the 
woman. Sold in childhood, they enter married 
life without any experience of men. No wonder 
that harems are often hotbeds of intrigue between 
the inmates and the outside world. 

It may be urged that under monogamic marriage 
thousands of women experience dissatisfaction with 

their chosen partners, and suffer a terrible ennui 

203 



20 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

from conjugality. At all events, the woman of a 
monogamous nation is able to exercise very con- 
siderable free choice, and even before the strictest 
marriage of convenience, arranged as in France, 
the plighted girl is allowed to meet her future hus- 
band in society. The maiden destined for the 
harem has not this opportunity. She goes to an 
union with an utterly unknown man, who may be 
morally and physically repulsive to her. 

The wife of the average shopkeeper and artisan 
in Egypt has, of course, rather more freedom of 
selection. She is not brought from a foreign coun- 
try, and condemned to a kind of gilded durance 
amid a number of women. We must not for*get 
that a large proportion of the population of the 
East are practically, if not always, quite strictly 
monogamous. 

For the present we are concerned with the life 
of the women of the harem, and their specific 
temptations to inconstancy. Let it be remembered 
that, from racial causes, and the sensuous atmos- 
phere in which they are reared, these women are 
peculiarly susceptible to passion. Their whole 
thought is concentrated upon love and its pleasures. 
In the state of hyperesthesia thus set up, it is not 
strange that they should brood incontinently, and 
long for experiences denied to them in the seraglio. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 205 

Does not every ardent woman yearn for a great 
passion? Polygamy does not expel the polyan- 
drous instinct from a woman's breast. A psychic 
craving for a true heart-mate may dominate an in- 
mate of the harem. She demands a love that she 
cannot secure under polygamy. Often, no doubt, 
her restlessness and spirit of rebellion springs from 
lack of occupation for the mind. 

A measure of liberty is accorded to the woman 
of the Egyptian harems. Once a year they may 
leave the Abode of Bliss for a few weeks, and, 
under a certain amount of supervision, mingle with 
the world. They are, of course bound to wear the 
veil, and to observe the ordinary conventions gov- 
erning the conduct of their sex in public places. 1 
Freed for a spell, and filled with a spirit of adven- 
ture, the girl walks the fashionable promenades of 
Cairo. 

In the cosmopolitan throng, ever going and com- 
ing in the glaring thoroughfares, the beauty from 
the harem paces, observed for her grace and the 
irresistible challenge of her deep eyes. It is not 
difficult to find an excuse for a sudden uplifting of 
the veil. A mosquito may have stung her cheek; 

1 A friend just returned from Egypt informs me that the 
upper class women now wear transparent veils, and that some 
have discarded them entirely. 



206 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

a fly may tickle her nose. At the instant when the 
veil is swiftly raised, a handsome young English- 
man, American, or Frenchman may chance to pass. 
It is, of course, a mere accident that a man should 
pass by at that moment. The glance is enough; 
the flame from those languishing eyes, the witch- 
ing smile of the curved, ruddy lips, showing a 
treasure of pearly teeth, and the delicate ivory of 
the complexion, touched with a rosy pink, have 
aroused throbbing emotions in the breast of the 
young man. 

In this enchanted region of mystery and ro- 
mance, elusive, seductive, incomprehensible 
Egypt, the young and adventure-loving stranger is 
prone to speculate closely upon the womanly love- 
liness immured behind the formidable barriers of 
the harem. He longs to emulate the exploits of 
Don Juan, who, in spite of bar and padlock, con- 
trived to enter the sanctum of a royal seraglio. He 
recalls the lines of Byron upon "a thousand bosoms 
there beating for love, as the cag'd birds for air." 

"A bride from the harem" ; the words ring with 
romance. The visitor retraces his footsteps. His 
eyes are dazzled, and aching for another glance at 
those exquisite features. Again he encounters the 
fair Georgian, and may be this time her eyes subtly 
express the agitation of her heart. She, too, is fas- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 207 

cinated. It is not the first time that she has glanced 
covertly at the broad-shouldered, attractive young 
tourist. 

The spell is cast. These two are secretly en- 
amoured. They wish to converse ; they long to be 
alone. But a whisper in Cairo is heard a mile 
away. Spies lurk everywhere ; they seem to hover 
invisibly in the air. One is never safe from them. 
The crafty eunuchs do not lose sight of their 
charge. She is watched by vigilant eyes, dogged 
by unseen hirelings, who hold her very life in their 
keeping. Even a gleam from her eyes may betray 
her to her custodians. Her look should be de- 
mure and downcast. 

Tingling with curiosity and assailed by tyran- 
nous desire, the stranger waits the next day, in the 
hope of snatching an answering flash from those 
peerless eyes. He is rewarded. But his triumph 
is marred by the approach of a dark-visaged, sul- 
len guardian, who eyes him with a smile of cruel 
menace. He is an eunuch. Is this creature brib- 
able? The young adventurer has heard of elope- 
ments from the harem, aided by the guards. He 
returns the eunuch's leer with a significant expres- 
sion. He is now bent upon the conquest and ab- 
duction of the lovely Georgian, whose image is be- 
fore him by day and night. 



208 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

These things are done. By a contest in wily 
methods, the would-be champion and deliverer of 
the damsel succeeds in parleying unseen with her 
dusky spy. The man's palm itches for baksheesh. 
Probably he loves a girl in the harem, and he would 
like to escape with her to a far corner of the coun- 
try, or to a foreign land, and make her his wife. 
Allah has given many women to the rich. He 
needs money for his project. Even if he has no 
such plot concealed in his innermost bosom, he 
still loves baksheesh. Remember his life is in 
peril. The price must be high, if he is to abet in 
this daring business. 

In spite of his cupidity, the lover rewards the 
eunuch to the full. No sum is too high a price 
for the winning of the beautiful Georgian maiden. 

One day the girl is missed from the pasha's 
harem. The Chief Eunuch is distracted; his 
subordinates tremble. There is an inquiry. Prob- 
ably there is the mysterious disappearance of an 
eunuch about the same time. Outside of the 
harem little or nothing is heard of the scandal. A 
week or so afterwards there is a quiet wedding in 
Paris between a wealthy young Frenchman and a 
charming lady of foreign extraction. 

The kidnapping of men into the harem is con- 
trived by the eunuchs at the instigation, and 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 209 

through the heavy bribery, of intrepid ladies suf- 
fering from extreme boredom. Wise persons in 
the East do not ask questions. Whatever happens, 
no matter how strange or staggering on the senses, 
do not say anything. Pass on as though nothing 
had happened out of the common course of daily 
affairs. Men go into the alleys. They are seen 
no more. Apparently the earth has gaped and 
swallowed them. If they chance to be personages 
of small importance there is no hue and cry, no 
quest. "East is East." 

Miss Emmeline Lott, who dedicates her book 
on "Harem Life," written in 1865, t0 "His High- 
ness Ismael Pacha, Viceroy of Egypt," makes some 
astounding statements concerning the mysterious 
poisonings, sudden deaths, and tragedies that hap- 
pened in the harems in which she lived as a gov- 
erness. I have no desire to make over-statements; 
on the contrary, I wish to approach the question of 
the status of women under polygamy with an open 
and impartial mind. I imagine, however, that 
Miss Lott would scarcely have dedicated her book 
to the Viceroy had it contained questionable state- 
ments or exaggerations. 

This lady recounts several instances of cruelty 
practised upon slaves and women. She is explicit 
in her charge that the eunuchs conspire to intro- 



210 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

duce men to the harems, and she relates how she 
witnessed a saturnalia of men and slave girls after 
dark on a moonlight night. 

"I had heard much and read a great deal about 
the impossibility of men entering the harems of 
the East, considered as 'sacred' by all Moslems; 
that not a true believer has ever been known to 
visit the 'Abode of Bliss' of a true Mussulman. 
But now that I had seen the female slaves of the 
harem rambling about at night with the eunuchs, 
the guardians of these girls, and other muffled 
figures, I could not help giving credence to the 
assertion of a celebrated writer on Oriental life 
that, crabbed and cross-grained as the eunuchs may 
be, still there are many of them who bow the knee 
to the sovereign ruler of Egypt, Prince Baksheesh, 
and that golden keys do sometimes throw back the 
rusty hinges of the doors they guard, or else how 
came the slaves and their partners, those muffled 
figures?" 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ARABIAN CONCUBINATE 

The early Arabs, a fierce, militant race, became, 
through conquests in India, Persia and Spain, a 
powerful and civilising force from the seventh to 
the tenth centuries. Before their expansion they 
were nomadic shepherds, wresting a poor sub- 
stance from a sterile soil. In the height of their 
prosperity the Arabs excelled in the sciences, in 
medicine, in the arts and in philosophy, and built 
up a mighty civilisation. 

The town dwellers in modern Arabia are some- 
times polygamous, but the mass of the wandering 
herdsmen and traders marry only one wife. 
About a hundred years ago plural marriage was 
as comparatively uncommon in Arabia as it is to- 
day. 

Pinkerton, in his "Voyages and Travels," 1811, 
states that the Bedouins were mostly monogamists, 
though a few had two wives. In these cases the 
women were supervisors of the husband's affairs 
during his absence, or one would travel with him 
on trading expeditions, while the other remained 
in charge at home. 

211 



212 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

In this country, as elsewhere, the harem is the 
luxury of the wealthy. Polygamy is declining in 
Arabia, as it is in Turkey; but in Mecca, the rich 
sometimes maintain two or three wives and a num- 
ber of mistresses. According to Burckhardt, some 
of the middle-class Arabs used to buy young Abys- 
sinian girls, keep them as concubines, and often 
sell them to foreigners. 

In ancient times a custom known as beena mar- 
riage was common in Arabia. The wife was the 
actual owner of her tent and household goods, and 
could leave her husband upon just cause. There 
is no doubt that the Arabs have always tended to 
respect a woman's rights regarding property, and 
this respect has favoured the position of women, 
especially since the coming of Mohammed, who 
laid down definite laws. 

Mut'ah marriage, still surviving in Arabia and 
Persia, is a curious form of temporary alliance, and 
is of ancient origin. Letourneau refers to this un- 
ion as mot'a. R. Smith, in "Kinship," alludes to 
it. The woman remains in her own home, but 
becomes a temporary wife on payment to her of 
a fixed amount. Sometimes the union becomes 
permanent; but if the wife wishes to leave the hus- 
band at the end of the agreed period, she possesses 
full liberty to do so. After the transient conjugal 









V" 



. 



■ 



AN ARAB WOMAN 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 213 

life, a woman is free to form another mut'ah mar- 
riage. Mohammed did not sanction this marriage, 
and it was abolished at a later date. But it is ap- 
parently still known in some parts of Arabia. 
Letourneau says that mut'ah unions were practised 
by the ancient Hebrews. 1 

Some writers seem anxious to prove that Arab 
polygamy and concubinage are commonly prac- 
tised, and that the women are in a condition of 
slavery. There is, however, conclusive evidence 
that the nomadic Arabs are mostly monogamous; 
also that their women exercise considerable influ- 
ence and possess clearly-defined rights. Arabian 
poetry contains many laudatory tributes to the 
fidelity, gentleness, and courage of women. 

Pinkerton noted very little difference between 
Moslem and Christian marriage. He states that 
the women of Arabia "seem to be as free and happy 
as those of Europe can possibly be." Divorce, 
says Pinkerton, was rarely undertaken without the 
most stringent reasons, repudiation being consid- 
ered a dishonourable proceeding, because it casts 
a stigma on the wife and her relatives. The writer 
observes further that the women seemed to have 
much liberty, and often a high degree of power 
in the family and the group. 

1 Letourneau op. cit. 



2i 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

The townspeople who kept harems were urged 
more by social vanity than by sensuality. Pinker- 
ton says that the women of the seraglios were not 
guarded by eunuchs; in fact, there were then no 
eunuchs in Arabia. But Sir Richard Burton al- 
ludes in two or three passages to eunuchs in modern 
Arabia. Pinkerton asserts that the Arabs strongly 
disapproved of castration. 

Burton, in his "Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and 
Meccah," relates that while staying in the house 
of the Shayk Hamid he never saw any women but 
the slaves. Those girls were shy, and usually cov- 
ered their faces while they talked to him. Slave 
girls could be bought for about £60, and the Abys- 
sinians were the most highly valued among the 
women of colour. The Circassians were worth 
£100 to £400. 

Yet it is amongst the wandering, adventurous 
Arabs that we must look for the birth of the ideals 
of romantic love and chivalry. These sons of the 
desert, who have been unjustly charged with 
cruelty to women, were, even in early times, very 
ardent and tender lovers. Sir Richard Burton 
says that men will die for love in the East. The 
passionate, imaginative Bedouins are mostly chival- 
rous in their conduct towards women. They are 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 215 

still gentlemen, retaining strong, lasting traditions 
of honour, courtesy and hospitality. 

The Bedouin women are lithe and active. 
Arabs dislike fat persons. As a rule, the women 
are unveiled, though they wear a head covering. 
Burton describes some of the beauties of the plains 
as extremely handsome. The Bedouins do not 
only esteem the women for their bodily attractions. 
There is a real sentiment of conjugal love, and both 
husband and wife lament partings, if only for a 
few months. On the return of the husband, the 
wife greets him with cries of delight. 

Ages ago the women of Arabia were "a race of 
heroines." We cannot suppose that the spirit of 
those days is dead; that Arabian poets do not voice 
the emotions of living men, and that the Arab lover 
of to-day looks upon his bride, or his concubine, 
as a mere serf. Men do not languish, lapse into 
despair, and commit suicide for the simple posses- 
sion of slaves. Yet Letourneau is inclined to class 
the Arabs with barbarians. 

A form of capture-marriage is practised among 
the Bedouins. The girl is wooed and her consent 
secured; but she must flee from her suitor and as- 
sume a defensive attitude, in accordance with an- 
cient convention. Sometimes she hides coyly from 



216 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

her lover, and is provided with food by her rela- 
tives. In one tribe the bride is protected by her 
women friends, but she allows herself to be caught 
and carried to the bridegroom's tent. 

It is curious to note the pains taken by some writ- 
ers to underrate the refinement of sentiment in love 
among races practising polygamy. Conjugal af- 
fection, as I have endeavoured to show in these 
pages, is not incompatible with plural marriage. 
Burckhardt, who is often quoted by Professor Wes- 
termarck, says that he doubts whether the Arabs 
ever mean anything but "the grossest animal de- 
sire" when they talk of the passion of love. West- 
ermarck often allows his monogamic bias to col- 
our his inquiry into polygamy. But Sir Richard 
Burton is more dispassionate. He quotes Sonnini, 
who, by the way, was no great admirer of Egypt. 2 

This writer speaks of "the generous virtues, the 
example of magnanimity and affectionate attach- 
ment, the sentiments ardent, yet gentle, forming a 
delightful unison with personal charms in the 
harems of the Mamluks." 

Pinkerton discerned but little difference in the 
marriage of Christians and Mohammedans; Mrs. 
Garnett thinks the women of Turkey are, in the 
main, quite as happy as the women of England; 

2 Op. tit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 217 

and apparently Miss Margaret Noble would not 
exchange the life of a Hindu woman for that of 
an emancipated English sister. 

It may be urged that the tending towards equal- 
ity of the sexes among the Bedouins is attributable 
to the fact that they are, for the greater number, 
monogamous. That may be so. But polygamy is 
not condemned, and would probably be practised 
more widely were it not for the poverty of these 
nomads. 

The Bedouins are not a religious people. Nom- 
inally they are Mohammedans, but they are not 
strictly devout. They observe the rule of circum- 
cision and a few other Moslem rites. Their mar- 
riage ceremony is simple. Sons are married as 
soon as the father can afford the bride-price. 

The system of. concubinage existing in Arabia is 
a survival of the militarist days, when women were 
taken captives in battle. It is, in a sense, "free 
marriage." Letourneau, in "The Evolution of 
Marriage," writes: "If we interrogate all races, 
all epochs, and all countries, we see that the con- 
cubinate and concubinage have flourished, and still 
flourish, by the side of legal marriage." 

Sir Samuel Baker was told by an Arab chief that 
he owned four wives. When one grew old, he 
"replaced her with a young one." He made four 



218 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

marks with a stick in the sand, saying, "This one 
carries water; that grinds the corn; this makes 
the bread; the last does not do much, as she is the 
youngest and my favourite." 

Jealousy often exists between wives and concu- 
bines. A young girl is purchased as a slave, and 
her youth and comeliness allure her master. She 
has been "gazed upon," and in due time she be- 
comes a paramour. The legal wife, or one of the 
wives, conceives a hatred for this rival, and a plot 
may be concocted for the slave girl's ruin. 

Palgrave offers the strongest evidence that the 
itinerant Arabs have always accorded the virtues 
of courage and loyalty to their women. The tribes 
that are led by women-soldiers have a high esti- 
mation of the capacity of women, and among the 
Arabs there were many fair warriors and leaders. 
Often a maiden of good birth rode at the head of 
an army, mounted upon a camel. 

It is erroneous, therefore, to associate invariably 
the total subjection of women with communities 
practising polygamy and concubinage. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE WOMEN OF PERSIA 

The realm of the Shah is a reputed paradise for 
women. There is probably less feminine discon- 
tent in Persia than in any other country, East or 
West. It has often been said that where polyg- 
amy prevails women have few liberties and little 
influence. In this book I have adduced sufficient 
evidence to prove that such a view often arises 
from hasty preconception and from the prejudice 
of the Western mind against legal plural marriage 
and sanctioned concubinage. 

Polygamy in Persia does not seem oppressive 
towards women, for they exercise much social and 
domestic power. Within the limits of their tradi- 
tions, and in accord with their personal aspirations, 
the women of Persia, among the upper classes, are 
cultured, and even advanced, from the Oriental 
point of view. 

Ancient Persian romances and poetry testify to 

the esteem and devotion shown by men to wives 

and lovers; and the old histories tell of noble 

women who have led armies to victory. The most 

passionate of love poems have been written by 

219 



220 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Persians. Mothers in Persia are greatly honoured, 
and exert potent sway in the family; and grand- 
mothers are even more venerated. 1 Mr. W. S. 
Landor, in "Across Coveted Lands," says that 
women among the Persians have great influence 
over men, both in political and commercial affairs. 
He adds that the wives are almost always the in- 
timate friends and counsellors of their husbands. 
The interests in married life are mutual. 

Before examining the marriage customs and so- 
cial position of Persian women, let us inquire con- 
cerning the physical traits of these much-loved and 
eloquently-lauded houris. Dr. C. J. Wills, who 
lived for many years among the people of Persia, 
describes the women as generally dark, with full- 
moon faces, and fine eyes. 2 Their long hair is 
plaited, and often stained red, a colour much ad- 
mired by the Persians, but not by most Orientals. 
Cosmetics and pigments for the cheeks are used 
somewhat freely, and the arch of the eyebrows is 
accentuated: 

Mr. W. S. Landor 3 says that the women are 
of fair height, and rather inclined to stoutness of 
the figure. Many are fair-skinned, and all have 

1 " In the Land of the Lion and the Sun," Dr. C. J. Wills. 

2 Op. cit. 

3 " Across Coveted Lands." 




GEORGIAN DANCING GIRLS 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 221 

beautiful and expressive eyes, with arched eye- 
brows. 

The following is an appraisement of Persian 
loveliness by Shereef-Eddin Romi, quoted by 
Havelock Ellis 4 :— 

The cultivation of physical beauty is an im- 
portant part of a Persian girl's education, and the 
standard of bodily perfection is somewhat exact- 
ing. Nevertheless, as several travellers testify, 

4 "Psychology of Sex" series, "Sexual Selection in Man," 
Havelock Ellis. 

"A Persian treatise on the figurative terms relating to beauty 
shows that the hair should be black, abundant, and wavy, the 
eyebrows dark and arched. The eyelashes also must be dark, 
and like arrows from the bow of the eyebrows. There is, how- 
ever, no insistence on the blackness of the eyes. We hear of 
four varieties of eye: the dark grey eye (or narcissus eye) ; the 
narrow elongated eye of Turkish beauties; the languishing or 
love-intoxicated eye; and the wine-coloured eye. Much stress 
is laid on the quality of brilliancy. The face is sometimes de- 
scribed as brown, but more especially as white and rosy. There 
are many references to the down on the lips which is described 
as greenish (sometimes bluish) and compared to herbage. This 
down and that on the cheeks and the stray hairs near the ears 
were regarded as very great beauties. A beauty spot on the 
chin, cheek or elsewhere were also greatly admired and evoked 
many poetic comparisons. The mouth must be very small. In 
stature a woman must be tall and erect, like the Cyprus or the 
maritime pine. While the Arabs admired the rosiness of the 
legs and thighs, the Persians insisted on white legs and com- 
pared them to silver and crystal." 



222 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

facial loveliness and symmetry of form are not the 
sole attractions. Very frequently a plain woman, 
possessed of sprightliness and amiability, is more 
cherished by a husband than the veritable belle 
who lacks humour and intelligence. The favour- 
ite wife is often unattractive in features and un- 
gainly in body. 

Bathing is an elaborate ritual and an ancient in- 
stitution of the country. Prolonged and constant 
ablutions are, as we have seen, a common practice 
in most Mohammedan communities. In Persia 
women are as much addicted to hot bathing as the 
Turkish women. The bath-house is like a club, 
a place of social resort; and women spend several 
hours, or the greater part of the day, steeping 
themselves in hot water, undergoing massage and 
friction, and lounging on divans in warm cham- 
bers. The bath is a principal rendezvous for the 
women of fashion in the higher classes. 

Bathing is an almost painful process in Persia 
and Afghanistan, and foreigners shrink from the 
immersion in scalding water, the hot douches, and 
the drastic pounding and pinching of the flesh. 
The operation leaves those unaccustomed to it in 
a state of limp enervation. 

Persian ladies demand of their husbands suffi- 
cient pin-money to pay for frequent baths, and a 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 223 

refusal to comply would be regarded as unkind- 
ness. 5 In the bathing-houses women associate 
freely; they gossip, eat sweetmeats, and smoke. 
One of the chief diversions is drawing figures and 
devices upon the body with a kind of pencil. 
Hours are spent in this recreation. The moon, the 
stars, shapes of animals and birds, and the forms 
of trees are drawn on the bosom and the upper 
part of the abdomen. 6 

Music, singing and dancing are favourite amuse- 
ments of Persian women. Many of them excel in 
relating romances of love and adventure, and in 
reciting the old poems and amorous songs. There 
is much gaiety and childish light-heartedness 
among the women of the harems. 

Dr. C. J. Wills says that Persian women are 
virtuous, economical, and cleanly in their persons 
and in the home. They "do all they can to make 
home happy," and as a consequence the wife is 
idolised by her husband and adored by her chil- 
dren. 7 Their chief faults are, perhaps, a love of 
tittle-tattle, a tendency to quarrel among them- 

5 If the husband refuses to make the wife a fair allowance for 
baths and entertainments, she may take what money she can find 
in the house, and it is proper if she bites and scratches her 
spouse till he pays the pocket-money. 

6 Porter's "Travels in Persia." 
7 Op. cit. 



224 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

selves, and jealousy. But the average family lives 
happily in an atmosphere of affection, and often 
extreme devotion. 

The ritual of union is instructive, as showing 
the power of the wife. On the bridal night the 
husband is seated by the side of the bride. The 
right leg of the bride is placed on the left leg of 
the husband, and her right hand is placed upon 
the hand of her husband, to show that she ought 
always to have the upper hand of her spouse. 

Mirza Abu Taleb, a Persian writer, is very ex- 
plicit in laying down rules for husbands. A man 
is ordered to give his wife money without stint, 
or her colour will fade, her cheeks become as saf- 
fron, and she will languish and pine. If she dies 
of grief, through her husband's meanness, harsh 
treatment, or neglect, her blood will be on his 
head. In the day of judgment the woman will 
claim from the man that which he has failed to 
provide for her. Even the day-labourer must 
give all his wages to his wife. Very considerable 
laxity is allowed to Persian women in the matters 
of fasting, ritual, and penance. A wife must have 
all the enjoyments and recreations that a husband 
can reasonably provide for her. It is often said 
the women in the East are at best the spoilt play- 
things of men. This is scarcely true of Persian 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 225 

women. Their ascendency in the home, in busi- 
ness affairs, and, to a certain extent, in society is 
beyond question. 

The mother in Persia has almost supreme au- 
thority, and the wife is, in many respects, more 
than equal with the husband. 

"The glories of the bride," writes Dr. Wills, 
"pale in the strong rays of the mother of the son of 
the house." In this country, as in the East gener- 
ally, the mother of the heir is especially honoured; 
but the highest respect is shown to all women who 
have borne children. The mothers direct all the 
fortunes of the sons. They select their wives. 
There is, however, free choice for the maidens. 
A girl can refuse a suitor three times. If she ac- 
cepts him, he is bound to pay her a suitable mar- 
riage settlement. There is little or no courtship, 
as we understand it in the West. The lover looks 
at his chosen bride through an aperture in the 
room. 

The marriage celebration is made the occasion 
for music, dancing, and feasting. Mr. W. S. Lan- 
dor says that there is also a betrothal ceremony 
of a somewhat splendid character. Many guests 
are invitqd to these protracted festivities. The 
girl is congratulated by her relations and friends. 
She is decked in her loveliest garments, her hair 



226 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

adorned, her eyes darkened artificially. Attention 
is fixed almost wholly upon her; she is the queen 
of the hour, and little interest is shown in the bride- 
groom, who appears awkward and bashful. 

During Dr. Wills' long stay in Persia, he only 
heard of one tragedy in conjugal life. Generally 
speaking, women in the anderuns are good friends 
one with another, and the trusted confidantes of 
their husbands and children. 8 

Dr. Wills states that women in Persia begin to 
show signs of age at forty; but Mr. W. S. Landor 
says that the menopause does not manifest itself 
until about fifty. 

When walking in the streets the women are 
closely veiled with the chudder. Social inter- 
course with men is restricted in this country, and 
such interdiction is one of the principal disabilities 
of women. 

On the other hand, women in Persia possess 
many rights and a number of privileges. James 
Atkinson, in "Customs and Manners of the Women 
of Persia," refers to an ancient code in which the 
liberties of women are clearly defined. A woman 
can always attend the public bath alone. She is 
allowed to visit her father, brother, sister, or son 
when she chooses, and her husband cannot force 

8 "Persia as it Is," Dr. C. J. Wills. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 227 

his company upon her on such occasions. Such 
intrusion would be considered unpardonable rude- 
ness. No husband is to enter his wife's apartments 
without her consent or invitation. A wife may 
entertain her friends in her own apartments, and 
engage musicians and dancers to delight her 
guests. 

When a husband enters his wife's chambers he 
is a visitor, and he possesses no authority over her 
servants. Her children and her slaves obey her, 
and not her spouse. The Persians assert that their 
women have more power and liberty than the 
women of Europe and the West generally. This 
was the opinion of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan after 
a visit to England. 

A Persian wife is permitted by custom to tease 
her husband, and to indulge her humours and 
caprices to her heart's content. She believes that 
her compliance must be won, and not enforced 
harshly. The submissive wife often loses favour 
in the husband's eyes ; therefore the astute Persian 
woman cultivates the art of pique, and shows her 
displeasure in little spiteful speeches and acts. 
A dutiful husband must wait upon his wife when 
she is going a journey to visit her relatives or 
friends. After the visit he must go to escort her 
back to the home, and sometimes the lady refuses 



228 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

to accompany him. She changes her mind sud- 
denly, and expresses her intention of remaining 
longer. 

In that case, the husband cannot oblige her to 
return. He must come again and again until the 
recalcitrant wife decides to accompany him. 

These devices to retain a husband's love by an- 
noying him appear rather farcical; but in Persia 
there is a method in a wife's management of her 
spouse; and apparently such uncertainty and vari- 
ability are accepted by some men as the proper 
and normal traits of women. 

Westermarck quotes Dr. Polak to show that 
Persian wives suffer deep pain when supplanted 
by another woman. No doubt such jealousy is 
not very infrequent; but we have the authority of 
other writers, to whom I have referred, that on 
the whole the life of the anderun is peaceful, and 
that the women are usually good friends. 

As I have said before, Professor Westermarck's 
disapproval of polygamy blinds him to facts which 
prove that there are certain domestic advantages 
for women in polygamous societies. 

Dr. Polak declares that the love extolled by the 
Persian poets has "either a symbolic or a very 
profane meaning"; in fine, it is asserted by several 
authorities, cited in "The History of Human Mar- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 229 

riage," that the Oriental peoples have no concep- 
tion of the romantic love of the West. 

I cannot sympathise with such special pleading. 
Without offering any apology whatever for plural 
marriage, one may expose dispassionately all sides 
of the question, good and evil. The prime error 
of the writers who champion monogamy, when 
describing Eastern life, is their invariable tendency 
to rank all Mohammedans, Hindus, and the 
greater number of Buddhists as polygamists. We 
have seen that in all the countries where plurality 
of wives and the maintenance of concubines are 
sanctioned, the great bulk of the population live in 
monogamy. 

Surely, when one hears the personal testimony 
of devout Mohammedan and Hindu men and 
women, and that of English friends who have lived 
in the East, one hesitates before making such wide 
generalisations concerning the Oriental incapacity 
for psychic, or spiritual, love between the sexes. 
In Turkey, in India, in Burma, and in Persia 
love is not merely "the grossest animal desire." 
It is quite impossible to accept such an estimate 
after reading the love poetry of these nations and 
the records of unbiassed travellers. 

Who can assert truly that the beautiful poems of 
conjugal love by Tagore are simple poems of 



2 3 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

sensuality? In regard to Indian love, are we to 
dismiss the tributes of Dr. Ananda Coomaras- 
wamy, Miss Margaret Noble, Mrs. Steele, Laur- 
ence Hope, and a number of English men and 
women who have lived among the Hindu people? 
There is no question that ages ago, in the great 
civilisations of the East, the love of man for woman 
was associated with the deepest religious emotions. 
Long before Western culture, in remote eras, 
married love was an idyl in Egypt, Arabia and 
India. Reverence was shown towards women. 
In the lines of an ancient Hindu poet, w T e find such 
sentiments as this: — 

"Woman is man's better half, 
Woman is man's bosom friend, 
Woman is redemption's source, 
From woman springs the liberator." 

What higher praise has been bestowed upon wom- 
an? The poet sings: "Women are the friends 
of the solitary — they solace him with their sweet 
converse; like to a father, in discharge of duty, 
consoling as a mother in misfortune." 

Mercenary association of the sexes was abhorred 
in ancient Persia, and regarded as an abominable 
sin. In modern times prostitution is somewhat on 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 231 

the increase in the cities, and is accompanied by 
the usual evils. 9 

The teaching of chastity is explicit in the moral 
codes of Persia. 

In one of the Sacred Books, it is stated: "This 
is the wickedest deed that hostile men do, when 
they keep girls away from marriage, and leaving 
them long without husbands, prevent them bear- 
ing children." 

9 Mr. W. S. Landor. Op. ciu 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE PERSIAN ANDERUN 

The ancient Persians were a militant race, hold- 
ing sway in the East of Asia and China. They 
subdued Egypt, and they spread westwards into 
Greece. In an early epoch they were cultured, 
and distinguished for their knowledge of astron- 
omy and for their poetry. In A.D. 651 Persia was 
conquered by the Saracens, and about a century 
later Khouli-Khan led an army into India and laid 
the land waste. 

Since the Fifteenth Century the country has 
been ruled by Shahs, who have lived in high state 
and grandeur. Most of the rulers in recent times 
have been friendly towards England, and one mon- 
arch visited our country some years ago. The 
religion of Persia is a form of Mohammedanism, 
but there are a considerable number of Armenian 
residents professing Christianity. 

Extravagance on the part of the majority of the 
Shahs has caused discontent and trouble from time 
to time during the past ten years. 

The capital, Teheran, has a population of 210,- 
000. The Shah maintains a harem here, and also 

233 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 233 

in other towns, containing a host of concubines, 
but he has only one legal wife. 

Dr. Wills tells us that slavery in the Persian 
harems is an easy existence, and that the women 
rarely yearn for freedom. They are very well 
fed and clothed, and have but little work to per- 
form. Many of the women of the anderun live 
to a ripe old age, and have no wish to leave the 
establishment. Kind treatment of harem women 
and servants is the general rule. It is worthy of 
note that the Persians are kinder to animals than 
is the custom of most Oriental people. 

The women most valued as servants are Abys- 
sinians and Somalis. According to Dr. Wills * 
girls of from twelve to fourteen years of age are 
worth about £40 in purchase money; while dam- 
sels of lighter colour are often worth from £80 
to £100. The very dark negroes are much less 
valuable. 

The separate apartment system prevails in the 
harems, each beauty possessing sole rights over 
her quarters and her attendants. Only a few 
eunuchs are kept in this country, which goes to 
prove a greater freedom than most women enjoy 
in the life of the seraglio. The women are often 
excellent friends of each other, and on the au- 

1 "In the Land of the Lion and the Sun." 



234 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

thority of English writers, discord is infrequent. 

The proportion of polygamous marriages in 
Persia has been set down as five per cent, or even 
two per cent, of the population. Probably con- 
cubinage is more widely spread than recognised 
plural marriage, but polygamy is certainly the ex- 
ception and not the rule. 

A book of Persian maxims on women pro- 
claims : — 

"Be that man's life immersed in gloom 
Who weds more wives than one. 
With one his cheeks retain their bloom, 
His voice a cheerful tone; 
These speak his honest heart at rest 
And he and she are always blest; 
But when with two he seeks for joy, 
Together they his soul annoy. 
With two no sunbeam of delight 
Can make his day of misery bright." 

Punishment will be meted out, therefore, to hus- 
bands who have acted unjustly or unkindly towards 
their wives. A husband must think always of his 
wife's welfare, and strive to please her in all things 
great and small. When he goes to the market he 
should buy her a gift of fruit and carry it home to 
her to show that he thinks of her pleasure. When 
the wife goes on a journey the husband must escort 
her. If she wishes her women visitors to remain 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 235 

in the house all night, she may give them couches 
in her chamber, and the husband must sleep alone. 

Infractions of this somewhat exacting code for 
husbands can be remedied by the woman suing for 
separation. Divorce for men is not easy in Persia ; 
in spite of Mohammedan legal provision, the pro- 
cess is difficult. It is easier for a woman to divorce 
her partner. 

The evanescence of a husband's ardour is a 
grievous matter, and the neglected wife can leave 
the partner who denies her rights. A wife should 
at all times, and by every legitimate means, hold 
her position in the house, and keep her husband 
constant, just, and liberal towards her. She must 
not be imposed upon or interfered with by her 
husband's family. A woman must preserve an 
"indomitable independence." She may exert 
physical force, if she deems it necessary; and wom- 
en are advised to use their fists, to pull the man's 
hair, and to kick him should he endeavour to 
thwart their desires. 

A discontented wife should vex her spouse con- 
tinually, with every form of feminine annoyance 
until he grows weary, and succumbs utterly to her 
sway. When her husband passes a loaf, she should 
throw it at his head. 

When all these stratagems fail, the wife still 



236 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

has her remedy. She may seize all that is valuable 
in the house, and proceed to a judge, and place her 
case before him. Let her then pretend that she 
has been beaten, and show the marks on her flesh. 
Her evidence must be strong, but it may be con- 
cocted. 

Kulsu'm Naneh, the Persian feminist, gives 
full advice to wives on the subject of retaining 
authority over husbands. No militant emancipa- 
tor of women could be more precise and more vehe- 
ment. This writer proposes a ceremony which 
symbolises the subjugation of husbands to wives. 
A large brass basin is set on the floor inverted, and 
a lighted lamp placed beneath. On the basin is a 
saddle and a pillow. While the bride sits in the 
saddle astride the bowl, the attendants sing: — 

"The husband is saddled, the journey begun, 
And the beautiful bride her own race has to run." 

It will be assumed that Persian husbands are 
bound to give all and to accept little. But this is 
not quite the case. A woman must know how to 
please and humour a man. She should be trained 
by her mother from childhood in the art of love 
and endearment. A girl must "store, enrich, and 
dignify the mind." She is instructed to maintain 
her beauty, her charm of disposition, and to pre- 
serve good sense. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 237 

Womeir are seldom punished in Persia, and 
there is no part of the prisons reserved for female 
offenders. 

In the preceding chapter I have shown the 
women of Persia in the light of the experience of 
Mr. W. S. Landor and Dr. Wills, two modern au- 
thorities, and from that of other travellers. It is 
perhaps a rosy picture. At any rate, Mrs. M. E. 
Hume Griffith, the writer of "Behind the Veil in 
Persia and Turkish Arabia," discerns many in- 
equalities and evils in the lives of the anderun 
women. This author hints at tragedies in the 
harems of the two countries visited by her. She 
refers to poison being placed by jealous women in 
a rival's coffee. In her view, "love has no part 
in the life of a Moslem woman," and she regards 
the whole system of polygamy as one of "degrada- 
tion and vice." 

Mrs. M. E. Hume Griffith has only condemna- 
tion for the harem : "There is no hope for the chil- 
dren of Mohammedan lands until the mothers 
have learnt a little of the meaning of pure life 
and conversation. There is no hope for the wom- 
en while the men are what they are. The whole 
system is one of degradation and vice." 

"The longer I live amongst Moslem women the 
more my heart yearns with love and pity for them, 



2 3 8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

and the more thankful I am that their lot is not 



mine." 



"Poor, blind, misguided Moslem women of 
Mosul and other Mohammedan lands! How my 
heart aches for them! Will no one heed the cry 
of anguish and despair which goes up from their 
midst?" 

In her volume "Journeys in Persia and Kurdis- 
tan," Miss Bird refers with pity to the condition 
of the Persian woman. She sees only the darker 
aspects of harem life, and declares that polygamy 
militates against all the higher interests of women. 
Miss Bird was allowed to converse with some of 
the inmates of the anderuns; and on one occasion 
she was introduced to the sixteen wives of an emi- 
nent khan. 

The chieftain's brides said that there was much 
quarrelling and jealousy in the harems. The khan 
sat by the side of the reigning favourite, and almost 
disregarded his other wives. Some of the women 
visited by Miss Bird had stars painted on the backs 
of the hands, on the forehead and the chin. A 
few were beautiful, but others were ungainly in 
form. This writer says that at twenty the women 
look past forty. Many have fine eyes and shining 
black hair. The women of the wilder districts 
are healthy in appearance. Their hands are 




PERSIAN GIRL OF UPPER CLASS 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 239 

stained with henna, and they wear amulets. Ac- 
cording to Miss Bird, Persian peasants keep as 
many women as they can afford, and even poor 
men own more than one wife. Polygyny is said 
to be common in the rural districts. The average 
family is large, and there is little infant mortality. 
In this matter Persia appears to contrast with In- 
dia, where the infant death-rate is very high. 

The women eagerly questioned their English 
visitor concerning the position of their sex in her 
own country. They often asked her if she could 
recommend them effective philtres for securing 
or retaining the affection of their husbands. 

Miss Bird visited the Amir in Isfahan. He 
talked intelligently on his country, and was very 
interested in the replies to his questions about the 
women of England. He was not entirely opposed 
to the higher education of Persian women. 

This observant traveller gives us an instructive 
picture of life among the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia, 
who are in many respects primitive in their cus- 
toms. One of the men remarked that "women 
have no religion, for women won't live again." 
This belief is contrary to the teaching of the Koran. 
Polygamy prevails among these people, and Miss 
Bird regards the institution as degrading to women. 

The harem system in Persia was probably 



2 4 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

adopted in ancient times through the example of 
Egypt. Herbert Spencer, in "Sociology," holds 
this view, and says that the sovereigns had three or 
four wives and a number of concubines. The 
favourite legal wife was the queen. Letourneau, 
quoting from the sacred Avesta, states that before 
the Egyptian influence the Persians had a very 
severe code of sexual morality. The laws regulat- 
ing the relations of the sexes were, indeed, more 
strict than those in England at the present day. 
Resorting to courtesans was punishable, and seduc- 
tion, sexual excesses, and procuring abortion were 
penal offences. Polygamy was not permitted. It 
was not even recognised. Marriage seems to have 
been rigidly monogamous, except when the first 
wife was infertile. 

Quite probably plural marriage is still compara- 
tively uncommon in Persia through the survival 
of ancient tradition discountenancing the practice. 
That the Avesta Code was formed by primitive 
Puritans is apparent, for it reveals a fear of the 
lures of the flesh. Polygamy and the concubinate 
may have followed upon a long period of sexual 
restriction and asceticism as a natural reaction. 
The theory is at all events worthy of fuller and 
careful investigation. 

Concubinage still exists in Persia, as in other 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 241 

parts of Asia, as a relic of the former magnificence 
of royal palaces. The old monarchs of the country 
lived in great state, and the seraglio was an essen- 
tial part of the splendour of courts. No doubt 
the survival of the harem is to be attributed to this 
love of ostentation and display rather than to 
men's strongly-developed amativeness. The harem 
stands for wealth, social superiority, and property. 
It is a symbol of the passion for the private owner- 
ship of expensive things. 

Letourneau fails to trace any sign of maternal 
supremacy in ancient Persia. Yet, judging by the 
quotations from old Persian writers, in the pre- 
ceding chapter of this book, women possessed 
many privileges pointing to matriarchal ideals. 
To-day we see that the grandmother and the 
mother are held in the highest reverence. 

Term-marriages, or temporary unions, were 
allowed in early days, and according to Dubeux, 
in La Perse, they are still permitted. This seems 
to be a form of the mut'ah marriage, to which I 
have referred. In these contracts the wife is hired 
for a period, and at the end of the engagement 
both parties may marry again, or they may renew 
the intimacy. If the man desires to sever himself 
before the expiration of the agreed period, he 
must give to the woman the full amount of the 



242 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

fixed sum. No children born of these unions are 
considered illegitimate. They have full civic 
rights, and can legally inherit property. 

This ephemeral wedlock is, no doubt, an ex- 
ample of trial-marriage, a fairly common custom 
in many parts of the world. Such temporary 
alliances were frequent until recent times in the 
British Islands, and especially in Wales. 2 

In old days there seems to have been no penalty 
for adultery in Persia. There have been severe 
punishments for this offense in modern times. 
Both of the guilty persons have suffered death. 
But the cases of proven infidelity are rare in Mo- 
hammedan nations. Mohammed w T as more mer- 
ciful than Moses in laying down the law of adul- 
tery. The suspected woman was allowed to estab- 
lish her innocence by an oath repeated four times. 
Moreover, there must be four accredited witnesses 
to the act of unfaithfulness. 

In "Queer Things about Persia,'' by Eustache 
de Lory and Douglas Sladen, the authors relate 
that there have been death penalties for adultery 
in modern times. At Tabriz, not very long ago, 
an offending woman was enclosed in a sack and 
clubbed to death; and there are deep wells in 

2 See "Chapters on Human Love" ("Geoffrey Mortimer") 
Walter M. Gallichan. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 243 

Persia into which adulterous wives used to be 
thrown. These writers say that crimes and in- 
trigues are not infrequent in the harems. 

Their testimony as to the position of women 
contradicts, on the whole, the views of authors 
already cited. "Polygamy is less general in 
Persia than one would believe"; but the practice 
is not very uncommon in the country districts. 
Here the men find that more than one helpmate 
proves useful in tillage and industry. Wife- 
beating is not unknown amongst the rural popula- 
tion, but it is not a common practice in the upper 
classes. 

The authors of the above-mentioned work state 
that the temporary unions, which we have noted, 
were instituted as a check upon prostitution. 
There are courtesans in the towns, and Mr. W. S. 
Landor says that the diseases inseparable from sex- 
ual irregularity are common. 

Schools for girls have been opened lately in the 
Persian cities. Some of the ladies of influential 
families are becoming learned, and they are able 
linguists, speaking several languages. 3 Neverthe- 
less, the status of women, in the opinion of these 
observers, is unfavourable to their mental progress. 
Nor are they defenders of the position of women 

3 Eustache de Lory and Douglas Sladen. Op. cit. 



244 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

in marriage. There is no true intimacy between 
husband and wife. As in India, husbands and 
wives do not eat together, and in the streets the 
men walk in front of the woman. I have already 
alluded to the Hindu origin of the latter custom. 

It is doubtful whether it can be accepted as an 
indication of the inferiority of women. The au- 
thors refer to the dominance of mothers in the 
home-life, and corroborate the statements that I 
have quoted concerning the respect shown by sons. 
Mothers are the chief counsellors of their chil- 
dren, even in manhood. 

The Shah exercises the privilege of claiming 
any woman upon whom he casts an approving 
eye. Monarchs have caused all the women, mar- 
ried and single, in a village, to assemble in the 
streets in long lines, and they have selected some 
of the more attractive for the royal anderun. The 
women are never unwilling; on the contrary, no 
greater honour can be paid to them than to grace 
the palace. No objection is raised by the hus- 
bands, who often receive a solatium or royal 
favour. 4 

One of the Shahs had a thousand children. 
Occasionally a European woman elects to enter a 

4 Eustache de Lory and Douglas Sladen. Op. cit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 245 

Persian seraglio. The writers whom I have 
quoted above give an instance of an English girl 
who became the wife of a Kurdish chief. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

AFGHAN MARRIAGE 

The greater number of the five million inhabitants 
of Afghanistan are Mohammedans. Polygamy, 
sanctioned by religion and law, is practised 
amongst the affluent classes, and there are harems 
in Kandahar and Kabul. The bulk of the pas- 
toral population marry only one wife, as in India 
and Persia. Women are rather less secluded in 
Afghanistan than in some other Moslem countries, 
and among the labouring classes the veil is not 
worn. 

Ordinary marriages are by arrangement, as in 
most Oriental nations; but freedom of choice is 
allowed to girls who are approached by a suitor. 
Dr. J. A. Gray, who was the physician in the royal 
household, says that a young Afghan lover who de- 
sires to marry a maiden sends his mother and sisters 
to visit her. 1 These emissaries perform their deli- 
cate errand with courtesy and shrewdness, and 
bring back an impression of the damsel. The 
next stage in courtship is a visit of the enamoured 
youth to the house of his mistress. But he is not 

1 "At the Court of the Amir." 
246 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 247 

allowed to gaze upon her. She, on the other hand, 
sees him unobserved from a place of concealment, 
and closely criticises his appearance, his defects, 
and attractions. If he pleases her, she accepts him 
as her husband; but if the inspection is disappoint- 
ing, she is at full liberty to dismiss him. 

The royal harem resembles other institutions of 
the kind in the East generally. The wives and 
subordinate spouses are veiled, and secluded in 
their own apartments, and waited upon by slaves 
and eunuchs. There are beauties in the harem, 
and some of them are fair, with light tresses, which 
they plait and braid. The Afghan type of coun- 
tenance is Hebrew, and many of both sexes are 
handsome. But a number of the women are sal- 
low in complexion. 

Some travellers have described the Afghans as 
vindictive, deceitful, and cruel; but such an ac- 
cusation is too sweeping, and hardly supported by 
the evidence of other writers. The people are 
martial in temper, and inclined to act ruthlessly 
towards their enemies in warfare. They are brave 
soldiers, and have been distinguished bandits. 

Polygamy is not universally approved by the 
Afghans, and many rich men, who could afford to 
maintain more than one wife, prefer to live as 
monogamists. The expense and the worry that 



248 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

the harem involves are also deterrents in Afghanis- 
tan as elsewhere under Islam. 

Dr. Gray inquired of an Afghan gentleman: 
"Do you consider that a plurality of wives is to be 
desired?" "Among people of my race," he re- 
plied, "a plurality of wives is lawful; but that 
which is lawful is not always expedient." "In 
what way is it inexpedient?" I asked. "Firstly, 
there is the question of expense. Secondly, a 
plurality of wives is a source of constant annoy- 
ance and anxiety. One wife will live in peace with 
her husband; but with two or more there is no 
peace ; for ever they are quarrelling." 2 

This philosophic rejoinder echoes, no doubt, the 
opinion of a very large number of men in the East- 
ern countries. From the time of Solomon, the 
harem and the concubinate have often proved hot- 
beds of jealousy, intrigue, strife, and tragedy, 
though this is not the invariable rule. Intrigues 
and domestic trouble are not uncommon in the 
Afghan harems. A shrewd and reflective man 
asks himself whether plural marriage is the hap- 
piest state, seeing that so many homes are scenes 
of discord. 

Women in Afghanistan possess considerable in- 
fluence in social matters, and even in politics. A 

2 Op. ciu 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 249 

clever, scheming woman succeeds as well here as 
in any part of the globe, and the inmates of the 
harem contrive to rule their lords when it is to 
their advantage to do so. Frequently the husband 
seeks the counsels of his wife in grave affairs out- 
side of the home sphere. 

Amongst the Afridis, especially, women have 
distinct power, which they often exercise in an au- 
tocratic fashion. A discontented Af ridi wife does 
not take the trouble to sue for a divorce. Her 
method of separation is extremely simple. She 
quietly parts from her spouse, and goes to another 
tribe in quest of a more desirable husband. There 
is no anxious regard for fealty to the precepts of 
Mohammed, and no need for legal processes. The 
injured woman merely runs away and marries 
again as soon as possible. 

In a recent volume, "Afghanistan," by Mr. An- 
gus Hamilton, it is stated that women are seldom 
seen in the streets. There are frequent intrigues 
in the seraglios, and jealousy is common among 
the women of the Amir's household. 



CHAPTER XXIV, 

POLYGYNY IN JAPAN 

The forms of legal and religiously-sanctioned 
plural marriage, as practised in Mohammedan 
countries and under Hinduism, are not known in 
Japan. It is, therefore, incorrect to speak of the 
Japanese people as polygamous. Co-habitation 
with more than one woman is not uncommon in 
Japan, but there is only one lawful wife. The 
subordinate "wives" are not married to their hus- 
bands. They have no real share in domestic du- 
ties, and none of the rights of the licit wife; they 
are in reality concubines, or "kept women," and 
cannot take the status of the wife. 

The conjugal life of the Japanese is not very 
unlike that of the British people. There, as in our 
own country, the single, sanctioned union of the 
sexes is the custom. In England a proportion of 
married men live in overt marriage, and covertly 
visit a mistress, or more than one mistress. In 
Japan there is no secrecy in regard to concubin- 
age. A proportion of well-to-do men may legally 
and openly maintain a concubine beside the wife. 

There is no need for clandestine intrigues and 

hypocritical subterfuges. 

250 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 251 

It is not easy for the Western mind to probe to 
the inner souls of our friends and allies of Japan. 
We are sundered by a wide differentiation in 
thought, religion, ideal, and aspiration. We cling 
tenaciously to life, and most of us dread death. 
The Japanese are, like other Eastern people, 
philosophic fatalists. But in many salient char- 
acteristics they are not Oriental. They are touched 
with the spirit of the West; they assimilate alien 
influences very readily. 

Japan is an astounding country. In this empire, 
side by side with an advanced civilisation, the un- 
couth Ainus still live as in barbaric days. Cul- 
ture and colleges flourish amidst curious supersti- 
tions and antique customs. Education is free and 
compulsory, and a number of the secondary schools 
are state-aided. The training of girls is not neg- 
lected. There are State universities, technical 
schools, and academies of medicine. 

In ancient times group-marriage was the custom 
in Japan. The clans held together, and there was 
but little marriage outside of the group. Concu- 
binage seems to have been an institution in the 
early primitive period. Rulers had one wife and 
many hired or purchased women; and at a later 
stage the regal harem was established, with an em- 
press as the sole wife, and a number of concubines. 



252 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

The matriarchal influence is shown in the laws 
of inheritance. Lubbock and others state that 
property descends to the first-born child, whether 
a boy or a girl. A husband takes his wife's name 
when marrying an heiress; a wife assumes the 
name of an heir when she weds him. Husbands 
and wives stand as representatives of property. 

Japanese marriage is undergoing changes, such 
as the granting of free choice to brides. But Mr. 
Douglas Sladen 1 tells us that women are far from 
sex-equality in Japan. Implicit obedience is en- 
joined upon women to fathers and husbands, and 
widows must obey the eldest son. The Japanese 
wife, in the view of this author, is simply a drudge 
for her spouse. Quoting from "The Daigaku 
Onna," Mr. Sladen writes: — 

"The only qualities that befit a woman are gentle obedience, 
chastity, mercy, and quietness. ... A woman should look 
upon her husband as if he were Heaven itself, and never weary 
of thinking how she may yield to her husband, and thus escape 
celestial castigation." 

Also, the faults of women are "indocility, dis- 
content, slander, jealousy, and silliness." It 
might be suggested that these are also the imper- 
fections of men. 

The Japanese woman is trained in subordination 

1<c The Japs at Home." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 253 

to her male relatives and to her husband. She 
does not rebel against this submission ; on the con- 
trary, she respects the teaching of obedience. 
There is very little active feminine discontent. 
The women are happy in their protected, but sub- 
servient, state, and their chief aim is to please their 
menfolk. They are deeply attached to their chil- 
dren, and they are excellent mothers and good 
housekeepers. They are skilled cooks, and deft 
with the needle. 

Although children are not indulged to the ex- 
tent enjoyed by the children of the West, they are 
always treated kindly by the parents. Obedience 
seems to be a natural trait of the women and chil- 
dren of Japan. It is possible that, under Euro- 
pean influence, the Japanese women will rebel 
against the restrictions of their lives. The spread 
of female education is almost certain to cause dis- 
content and probably rebellion against the harsher 
conventions. But at present the signs of revolt 
are few indeed. The Japanese woman is happier 
than her sisters of the Western nations. 

At an early period in the history of Japan 
there was a powerful "social purity movement." 
Drastic laws were enforced to promote chastity, 
conjugal fidelity, and continence. Like all such 
schemes, when despotic and ill-judged, the crusade 



254 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

utterly failed. 2 The concubinate probably grew 
in the reaction that followed this attempted reform 
of sexual morality. Every man who had the 
means and the opportunity took to himself another 
woman besides his legal wife. 

In the imperial seraglio the women were se- 
cluded and vowed to secrecy. The Emperor was 
permitted to maintain a large crowd of concubines, 
but only the wife was deemed a royal personage. 

The women of Japan rival their Burmese sisters 
in physical charm and amiable traits of character. 
They are vivacious, intelligent and domesticated, 
with aesthetic taste in dress and the decoration of 
their houses. In literature they have excelled 
men. The most imaginative romances and the 
finest poems are the work of women. 

A young Japanese girl is always an attractive 
picture in her native dress. Some of the women 
are extremely beautiful. They have small, well- 
shaped bodies, and in height they are usually about 
five feet, and often less. The black hair is long 
and copious, the skin of the features warmly tinted, 
the mouth small, and the teeth white and regular. 
The lips are painted red. Womanhood is attained 
at an early age, and sometimes girls marry at four- 

2 "Japan," Brinkley. 




JAPANESE GIRLS IN BAMBOO AVENUE 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 255 

teen. Boys often become husbands at fifteen. 
The approved marriageable age in both sexes is 
about sixteen. 

In culture, Japanese women are not in line with 
the women of Western races ; but there is a steady 
advance in female education, and the system of 
tuition is improving in the girls' schools. The 
Japanese women are alert in mind, receptive, and 
fond of learning. They are highly susceptible to 
the influence of the West, and year by year they 
are becoming more Europeanized in the tendency 
of their thought and customs. 

Marriage is easily dissoluble in Japan. Ac- 
cording to the old code, a man could dismiss his 
wife on almost any pretext, such as domestic in- 
capacity, volubility, jealousy, quarrelling with the 
husband's relations, or for mere suspicion of un- 
faithfulness. A barbarous ordeal for adulteresses 
was practised in former days. 

The author of "A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan" 
tells us that, generally speaking, married life is 
serene and happy. Wives do not resent the prac- 
tice of concubinage. "Steeped as we are in the 
laws and prejudices of the West," says this writer, 
"it is not easy for us to judge of these questions. 
There is but one wife, properly speaking, and it 
has rarely, if ever, been heard of that any attempt 



256 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

was made to intrude any other woman into her 
place." The supremacy of the wife is always ob- 
served, and the mistress occupies an inferior sta- 
tion. 

Hetairism in Japan is a recognised profession, 
and the institution lacks many of the repellent 
characteristics of the West. The geisha is osten- 
sibly a dancing girl. She goes to a dancing school 
at an early age, and is trained as an artist. When 
proficient she performs in a tea-house. Part of 
her duty is to wait upon customers, and to make 
herself attractive and agreeable to them. 

English friends have told me that the geishas 
are in no sense regarded as pariahs, and that they 
are often sought as wives. But Mr. Douglas 
Sladen states that the courtesan is usually shunned 
by young men who seek partners for life. There 
is, however, far less ignominy attached to this oc- 
cupation in Japan than in England or America. 
This may be partly due to the fact that the geisha 
is highly intelligent, always sober, thrifty, and 
more self-respecting than the courtesans of West- 
ern lands. 

The traffic is licensed in Japan, and it thrives in 
the towns frequented by foreigners. A consider- 
able number of the girls only follow the calling 
for a few years. They often save money, and 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 257 

eventually marry and settle down to a staid domes- 
tic life. 

Letourneau says 3 that: — "In Japan the parents 
willingly hire out their daughters, either to private 
individuals or to houses of prostitution for a period 
of several years, and the girls are in no way dis- 
honoured thereby." This writer states that the 
Japanese Government regulates the costume of the 
geishas and the length of their sojourn in the 
houses. Ten years, from fifteen to twenty-five, is 
the usual period. "Many of them marry very 
well afterwards," says Letourneau. The Japan- 
ese tea-house girl is no doubt a modern survival 
of the consecrated woman, for paintings and sta- 
tues of such devotees are to be seen in some of the 
temples. 4 

Mr. R. T. Farrer, in "The Nineteenth Century," 
April, 1904, has an instructive article on this social 
phenomenon of Japan. He states that the geisha 
is not necessarily a courtesan. She is well-edu- 
cated and trained in witty conversation. Usually 
she is of the lower class. Socially, the geisha oc- 
cupies the position of the Western actress, and the 
profession offers many prizes to the successful. 
Frequently she marries into a high-born family. 

s Op. cit, 
4 Letourneau. Op, cit. 



258 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Divorce is commoner in Japan than in any other 
country of the globe, including the United States. 
The process is simple. If the husband and wife 
are more than twenty-five, they have merely to ap- 
pear before a registrar, who cancels the union. 
Married persons under that age can separate by a 
legal proceeding, and incompatibility is a valid 
ground. Marriage is a simple transaction. The 
ceremony is a civil one performed in the presence 
of witnesses before a registrar. Young couples 
must first obtain the consent of their parents. 
Love in Japan does not always precede marriage, 
but it usually follows after union. "Love," in the 
purely romantic Western meaning, is not known 
among the Japanese. Mrs. Fraser was told by 
Miss Tsuda, a Japanese head-mistress, and a con- 
vert to Christianity, that the word, " 'Love' has 
been hitherto a word unknown among our girls, 
in the foreign sense." 

Miss Tsuda continues: "Duty, submission, 
kindness — these were the sentiments which a girl 
was expected to bring to the husband who had been 
chosen for her — and many happy, harmonious 
marriages are the result. Now your dear senti- 
mental foreign women say to our girls: 'It is 
wicked to marry without love; the obedience to 
parents in such a case is an outrage against nature 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 259 

and Christianity. If you love a man you must 
sacrifice everything to him.' " 5 

Undoubtedly, male jealousy is strong in Japan, 
as in China. The almost extinct practice of mar- 
ried women shaving off their eyebrows and dis- 
colouring their teeth arose from the jealous in- 
stincts of husbands, who feared for the constancy 
of a too-attractive wife. Foot mutilation in China 
is also attributable to jealousy and the property- 
idea in women. Wives must not be gadabouts, 
and if their feet are cramped and distorted, they 
are not so well able to wander abroad into tempta- 
tion. 

Celibacy in Japan is so rare as to be almost non- 
existent. Redundancy in women is provided for 
by the concubinate. It must be noted that the 
children of concubines are as legitimate as those 
of the wife, and no stigma whatever attaches to 
the mother and the child. 

Let us hear the views of cultured contemporary 
Japanese writes upon the women of their nation. 
Count Okuma tells us that women were priestesses 
and warriors in the old days. I have referred to 
the important status of women in all the communi- 
ties wherein woman held sacred offices. It is ap- 
parent from Japanese histories that women were 

5 Article in "World's Work and Play," Dec. 1906. 



26o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

formerly regarded as thoroughly equipped for 
ruling the nation and leading armies. 

"Although some of the old-time Japanese women 
were fond of displaying valour, as is evident from 
the references in the records to feminine warriors, 
shiko-me, yet most of them were by nature wom- 
anly and of tender heart. All agreed, however, 
in loving brave men, who deemed it a high honour 
to win the regard of the nobler daughters of local 
magnates, and consequently vied with one another 
in wooing them with poems and songs." 6 

At a later period Kaibara, a great teacher, who 
lived between 1630 and 17 14, taught that igno- 
rance and lack of intellectual exercise was the chief 
cause of women's defects, and he recommended a 
full education suited to their powers. He not 
only enjoined the teaching of household economy, 
but he directed that women should study mathe- 
matics. Up till seven years of age, girls and boys 
were to be trained together. Girls must be 
trained in "womanly virtues, womanly address, 
womanly deportment, and womanly service." 

Kaibara does not advocate the usurpation by 
women of the avocations considered to be in the 
province of men only. He insists upon "womanli- 
ness." But later reformers ventured further on 

6 "Fifty Years of New Japan," Count Okuma. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 261 

the path of feminine emancipation. Women 
have been encouraged to practise medicine, and in 
time other professions will be open to them. Un- 
doubtedly, Japanese women of the educated class 
are gaining wider scope year by year. 

St. Francis Xavier's mission to Japan wrought 
certain marked changes in the position of women. 
More girls' schools were established. The reform 
in women's education progressed. In 1871 the 
Emperor counselled the upper classes to educate 
their daughters by travel. 

"We still lack an established system of educa- 
tion for women in this country, and they are gen- 
erally deficient in the power of judging and un- 
derstanding things. How children grow up de- 
pends on how their mothers bring them up, and 
this is a matter of supreme importance. It is 
commendable that those who go abroad from now 
onward should take with them their wives and 
daughters or their sisters. These would then see 
for themselves, and would also learn the way to 
bring up their children." 7 

The Nippon Women's University was opened 
a few years ago for the teaching of science, litera- 
ture, the arts, and domestic management. Count 
Okuma is of the opinion that the higher education 

1 \ Count Okuma. Op. ciU 



262 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

of Japanese women is an extremely valuable re- 
form; but he thinks that culture should have for 
its purpose the training of women as wives and 
mothers. 

He points out the evils of an "undiscriminating 
Westernization" of Japanese women. 

Okakura Kakuzo, another contemporary writer, 
states that the women of Japan have always se- 
cured more freedom than elsewhere in the East. 
The Mikado traces his descent from the Sun-God- 
dess. Women have ruled the land as sovereigns. 
There are more great woman writers than men 
writers. The influence of Confucian theology 
was to exclude women from all affairs but those 
of the home; but industries and trades are now 
open to women. 

"To-day," says this author, "we are convinced 
that the elevation of women is the elevation of the 
race. She is the epitome of the past and the reser- 
voir of the future, so that the responsibilities of 
the new social life which is dawning on the realms 
of the Sun-Goddess may be safely entrusted to her 
care. . . . She now possesses all the rights of her 
Western sister, though she does not care to insist 
upon them; for almost all of our women still con- 
sider the home, and not society, as their proper 
sphere." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 263 

Okakura Kakuzo continues: "In the harmony 
of Eastern society the man consecrates himself to 
the state, the child to the parent, and the wife to 
the husband." 8 

In "Japan as I saw it," by A. H. Exner, we are 
informed that there is less seclusion of the 
working-class than the higher-class women. The 
working-man's wife toils hard, but she is the com- 
panion of her husband. Japanese liberal papers 
have said: "We will give our women the posi- 
tion due to them. By a good education and train- 
ing we will take care that our girls shall be able 
to fill in the right manner the post as companions 
of their husbands and as mothers of their chil- 
dren." 9 

Professor Jinzo Naruse, who founded the first 
college for Japanese women, writes: — 

"The part women played in old Japan was very remarkable, 
especially before the arrival of Buddhism and Confucianism. 
Men and women were almost equal in their social position. 
There was then no shadow of the barbarous idea that men 
were everything and women nothing. Women's power even 
in politics was great, and history tells us that there were nine 
women who ascended the throne in olden times. Women in 
general were not inferior to men physically, mentally, or 
morally. They were noted for their bravery, and distinguished 

8 'The Awakening of Japan." 
9 Okakura Kakuzo. 



264 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

themselves on the field of battle. . . . The introduction of 
Buddhism and Confucianism, however, began to create great 
changes in the position of women. And yet so powerful were 
women in society when these two religions came to Japan that 
their rapid spread in our country was due to the earnest en- 
deavours of the women." 10 

10 "Japan by the Japanese," Alfred Stead. 



CHAPTER XXVi 

MOROCCO AND TUNIS 

EARLY in the Eighth Century the great victorious 
horde of Saracens, or "Easterns," carried their 
conquests through almost the whole of North 
Africa to the Strait dividing the continent from 
Spain. The fierce Berber hosts were subdued by 
the less ferocious, but equally brave, invaders. 
Islam triumphed, and Moorish sultans reigned in 
splendour. 

Spain was wrested from the Visigoths, and the 
old Roman cities of Andalusia were transformed 
and made glorious by Morisco art. 

The modern descendants of these warriors, 
sages, philosophers, and marvellous artists and 
craftsmen are still known as Moors. Strictly 
speaking, as Sir Richard Burton points out, the 
modern inhabitants of Morocco, or Marocco, are 
of three distinct races, the Arabs, the true Moors, 
and the Berbers. 1 The Moors of to-day are half 
Arab and half Spanish, preserving the traditions 
of both nations. There are many thousands of 

1 "Morocco and the Moors." 
265 



266 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Jews in Morocco. The army is chiefly composed 
of negroes. 

Polygamy and the concubinate flourish among 
the well-to-do Moors. The wealthy provide 
themselves with a number of concubines, who are 
mostly purchased slaves. Sir Richard Burton was 
offered a slave-girl of twelve for the sum of £4. 

The ancient splendour of this race has departed. 
According to Mr. John Foster Fraser, in "The 
Land of Veiled Women," "the rejuvenation of 
such a race seems an impossibility." The Moors 
are inert and improgressive; the rich are luxuri- 
ous and sensual, and pass most of their time in 
lounging and smoking. Only among the hill-folks 
and the peasants are men active and industrious. 

The harem of the Sultan is filled with women 
of various nationalities. Mr. Foster Fraser says 
that from time to time the royal seraglio "needs 
thinning," so a bunch of ladies are sent off to 
Tafilet, in the Atlas Mountains, to adorn the 
harems of descendants of Moorish kings. Usu- 
ally, the Moor marries one wife, and keeps as many 
mistresses as he can afford. "They are cheaper 
than wives, and can more easily be got rid of. The 
women are in prisons; though, on the whole, not 
ill-treated, according to Oriental ideas." ("The 
Land of Veiled Women.") 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 267 

European girls are preferred for the harems of 
the rich men of Fez. "Ill-treatment is excep- 
tional," writes Mr. J. Foster Fraser, "for good- 
looking damsels cost money, and expensive posses- 
sions are not to be injured." This writer continues 
that the Moors prefer a number of concubines to 
several wives, because they can see slave-girls, but 
not brides, before buying them. 

Apparently, in Morocco, there is no provision 
made for cast-off concubines. The freed women 
are turned adrift. In spite of the alleged callous 
treatment of women, the author quoted states that 
the Moors are extremely kind and forbearing to- 
wards their children. As elsewhere under Mos- 
lem tradition, the sons are more petted than the 
daughters. 

Thomas Roscoe, who wandered in Morocco, 
was impressed by the beauty of some of the harem 
women whom he chanced to see. Early one 
morning this adventurous traveller ascended to the 
roof of the house in which he was lodging, and 
found that he could cross from roof to roof of the 
dwellings. While exploring the town in this man- 
ner, he saw several houris unveiled and sitting in a 
courtyard. They were very glad for the oppor- 
tunity of conversation with him. 

During a visit to Hajji Hassan Entifa, Roscoe 



268 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

was admitted to his hospitable host's harem, and 
consulted concerning the maladies of three of the 
girls. One of the damsels was extremely lovely. 
The Englishman discovered that over-eating and 
indolence had given these ladies a rather severe at- 
tack of indigestion, and he allayed their husband's 
fears. 

This writer visited the slave-market where 
negresses were offered for sale. None of the 
women seemed in the least degree unhappy. They 
chatted and smiled vivaciously. Roscoe says that 
their features were not comely, but the women had 
beautiful forms and small hands and feet. 2 The 
slave-mart still exists in Morocco. 

Disproportionate births in the sexes is, no doubt, 
a cause of polygamy in Morocco. Westermarck 
was told by a friend acquainted with the country 
that three females are born to one male. In the 
Monbuttu country, according to Emin Pasha, far 
more females than males are born. 

Divorce is obtainable by men on the slightest 
pretext, and many husbands repudiate their wives 
again and again. It is considered fashionable to 
divorce one woman after another, and such repu- 
diations are common among the Moors of the Sa- 
hara. 3 

2 "Spain and Morocco," T. Roscoe. . 
3 Westermarck. Op. cit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 269 

Polygamy is the exception and not the rule in 
Northern Africa. It is not common among the 
Berbers. Mr. Foster Fraser found little polyg- 
amy among the Kabyles; but husbands often re- 
pudiate their wives when they begin to fade, and 
marry younger women who are more attractive. 

The Moors of the cities are more inclined to 
polygamic unions than those of the country re- 
gions. But many rich Moors refrain from plural 
marriage, and maintain one wife and several con- 
cubines. Discarded wives are often compelled to 
live as courtesans. Mr. Foster Fraser describes 
the disorderly houses of Fez as "dens of crime." 

The aesthetic standard of beauty in women is 
plumpness, both in Morocco and Tunis. It is every 
Moorish and Tunisian woman's ambition to be 
fat. The stouter a woman is, the more she is de- 
sired as a wife; and to attain the necessary embon- 
point, girls are fattened from infancy by their 
mothers. They are almost forcibly fed. In 
Tunis the women are often extremely ungainly 
through this induced adiposity. 4 Unlike the rov- 
ing Arabs, who admire lithe and slightly-built 

4 Mr. Foster Fraser writes: "A Tunisian girl is slim like 
other girls. As she reaches the marriageable age she takes no 
exercise. She gorges on kous-kous, which is farinaceous and 
flesh-producing." 



2 7 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

women, the Moors and the Tunisians are attracted 
by unwieldy forms. 

Tunis is chiefly Mohammedan, but there is a 
large Jewish population. The Bey keeps a re- 
splendent harem, and sets the fashion to a num- 
ber of his wealthier subjects ; but polygamy is not 
within the means of the mass of the people. Fre- 
quently a rich man has one chief wife and a num- 
ber of secondary wives. 

I am acquainted with an English lady who mar- 
ried a wealthy Tunisian after he had repudiated 
his native wife. She found the secluded life irk- 
some, though she was surrounded with every lux- 
ury. This lady remained for a few years in the 
harem. 

Mungo Park, one of the pioneer explorers in 
Africa, noted closely the marriage customs of the 
Moors. He refers to the stoutness of the women 
as constituting the ideal of feminine physical per- 
fection. 

"Corpulence and beauty appear to be terms al- 
most synonymous. A woman, of even moderate 
pretensions, must be one who cannot walk without 
a slave under each arm to support her, and a per- 
fect beauty is a load for a camel." 

Park describes the dieting of young Moorish 
girls by their parents to induce extreme fatness. 




MOORISH WOMEN, ALGIERS 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 271 

Kouskous and camel's milk are literally forced 
down the girls' throats to produce corpulence, and 
to render them attractive to men. 

The explorer found the Moorish women vain, 
loquacious, and very irritable. They were often 
cruel to their slaves. The women were entirely 
uneducated, and the lack of "mental accomplish- 
ments" was not deemed a defect. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

POLYGAMY AMONG MODERN AFRICANS 

I. ZANZIBAR AND EAST AFRICA 
The Island of Zanzibar became a British Protec- 
torate in 1890. It is still ruled by a Sultan, who 
owns a large harem and lives in great state and 
magnificence. Mrs. French Sheldon, the well- 
known traveller, who visited the Island in 1892, 
gives an excellent description of native customs in 
her volume "Sultan to Sultan." 

From this entertaining narrative we gather that 
the Sultan regarded polygamous marriage as not 
wholly a bed of roses. He informed Mrs. French 
Sheldon that he would give up his costly harem 
were it not for the risk of losing influence with his 
Arab constituency. The monarch seemed over- 
weighted with the cares of government and the 
conduct of his enormous household. 

In her account of the harem, to which she was 
admitted as the Sultan's guest, Mrs. Sheldon tells 
us that she was introduced to five young princes, 
all of them loaded with resplendent jewels and 
decorations. The whole of the sovereign's concu- 
bines passed before the visitor in a long procession. 

272 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 273 

Some of the women bathed her feet as a mark of 
honour, and each one presented her with a ring. 
She received in all one-hundred-and-forty-two of 
these mementoes. Many of the concubines 
seemed to Mrs. Sheldon "sad-eyed and full of 
sorrow"; others, presumably the favourites, were 
"defiant and triumphant." The eunuchs of the 
royal palace of Zanzibar have their tongues re- 
moved to ensure their silence and secrecy. Polyg- 
amy here appears to survive in a somewhat primi- 
tive form. 

The Wa-Taveta tribe of the mainland, visited 
by Mrs. French Sheldon, practise polygamy 
chiefly for economic reasons. I have referred in 
earlier chapters to this common primary origin of 
a plurality of wives; and in this community we 
have a modern example of the survival. These 
people are industrious, and the wives are excellent 
helpmates to their husbands. 

Apparently no jealousy exists among the wives, 
for we are told that when a new wife comes into 
the family all the women welcome her warmly. 
But it is instructive to note that the harem system 
is not strictly followed by these people. The 
wives are not all thrown together in one house. 
Each woman has a right to her own hut and her 
own plantations. The children also belong to her. 



274 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

There is no double standard of sex-morality 
among the Wa-Taveta tribe. Mrs. French Shel- 
don learned that the women are allowed freedom, 
and may form liaisons with men of their own 
status, but not with low-bred persons or the ene- 
mies of their husbands. Marriage is arranged by 
purchase, and there is a ceremonial of the mock- 
capture of brides. 

The children are extremely well cared for, and 
they develop intelligence at a very early age. 
They are fond of assisting their parents in the 
fields and in carrying produce to the markets. 
East Africa strikes this highly-observant traveller 
as a paradise for children. We have seen that, 
in almost every polygamous society, the children 
are carefully protected and reared, and generally 
much loved by the parents. 

Among the Masai Mrs. Sheldon found a more 
barbaric form of polygamy. These people are 
militarist; and, as I have pointed out in several in- 
stances, women do not attain to equality with men 
in a fighting tribe or nation. The Masai set a low 
value upon women. A wife can be bought for 
five pigeons' eggs, or a few beads, which is less 
than the cost of a cow. The women of this war- 
like community possess very few rights. 

Mrs. French Sheldon says that the Chaga 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 275 

women are magnificent in form, extremely vigor- 
ous and agile, and able to walk thirty miles in a 
day. They are almost entirely naked, save for the 
adornment of a few bead-bands. Their status is 
considerably better than that of the Masai. 

Mrs. Sheldon boldly interrogated the chieftain 
mireali as to his conjugal preferences. "I asked 
Mireali, 'Do you not love one wife better than 
another?' 'Oh, I like them all, but the new one 
is the best for to-day; in a week I shall go back to 
the old, the big wife, because she knows me better 
than the others,' he quaintly responded." Do not 
errant husbands all the world over frequently re- 
turn to "the old wife"? Mireali's reply provides 
a subject for reflection upon the alleged universal 
inconstancy of men. 

The Mang'anja are one of our subject-races of 
the Central African Protectorate. They have 
been closely studied by Miss Alice Werner, who 
has made valuable contributions to ethnology and 
primitive folk-lore. 1 Their country is watered by 
the Shire River, which flows out of Lake Nyasa 
at the southern end. Miss Werner states that 
Livingstone in 1859 found the Mang'anja tribe 
"gentle, friendly, and clever people," reminding 

1 See three articles, "Our Subject Races," The Reformer, 
Vol. I., 1898. 



276 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

him of the ancient Egyptians. They were pas- 
toral, and grew tobacco, maize, millet and cotton 
in their fruitful valley. 

The men were skilful ironworkers and spinners 
of cotton. We have here another proof of the 
social benefits accruing to the women of a com- 
munity wherein the men work side by side with 
them in peaceful labours. 

These aborigines are of a bronze-colour, vary- 
ing in shade. They are tall and well shaped. 
The several sons and daughters of the chief Masea 
are described by Miss Werner as handsome. 

The agriculturists domesticate animals and till 
the ground. They live in bamboo and grass huts, 
which are plastered with mud in the cold months. 
Their hunting weapons are spears and bows and 
arrows. 

"Each wife, if there are more than one, has a 
hut for herself and her children," writes Miss 
Werner. "Generally in the less settled parts, as 
in the West Shire district, the whole collection of 
huts has a tall reed fence around it as a protection 
against wild animals. Sometimes two or three of 
these enclosures are placed close together — as in 
one case I remember, when you had to find your 
way through a perfect labyrinth of little winding 
passages between the fences." 




KING WAMBUGOO. EAST AFRICA, AND HIS 
SIXTEEN WIVES 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 277 

The position of the women is not a hard one. 
Women are exceedingly useful in the tribe, not 
only as mothers, but as workers in the fields and 
in the homes. 

"Polygamy does not here present itself in a par- 
ticularly revolting aspect," says Miss Werner. 
"Three to four wives are sometimes attached to 
one man, but as a rule the number is two." The 
chiefs own more. It is interesting to know that 
harem seclusion is not the custom among these 
people. Each woman "has her own hut and her 
separate house-keeping." There is very little of 
the jealousy and quarrelling that prevail in 
harems. 

"Though scantily clad, the Mang'anja are 
modest and refined. They have 'a sense of what is 
fitting to say and do, which would surprise those 
of us who cannot dissociate the idea of modesty 
from that of a multiplicity of clothes.' " 

Miss Werner never saw a quarrel, nor a child 
ill-used among these people. They certainly treat 
their children with greater affection and kindness 
than the slum-dwellers of Christian England. 

The Yaos, or Wa-Yaos, living in the mountainous 
district between Lake Nyasa and the Indian Ocean, 
were another tribe visited by Miss Alice Werner. 
They are described as a hardy, tall, and powerful 



278 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

race. The women wear the lip-ring, and they 
thread beads on their hair till it resembles a coral 
wig. 

The Yaos are martial and independent. They 
are intelligent and quick to learn from Europeans. 
Some of them assist in printing a newspaper at 
Zomba, and some enter the police force. 

What is perhaps most important to note is that 
the Yaos reckon kinship through the mothers, who 
also dispose of property. A man who marries is 
expected to live at the bride's village. 

II. NORTH AFRICA 

Letourneau, in an account of the Kabyles, refers 
to the position of their women as "miserable." 2 
Polygamy is legal among these people, but monog- 
amy is the custom of the mass for economic rea- 
sons. Wives are literally slaves. Girls are sold 
by their male relatives, though they may twice ex- 
ercise the right of choice. The bride-price goes 
to the parents, and the girl has no share in it. She 
becomes the property of her purchaser, who may 
beat her "with his fist, with a stick, with a stone, 
or even with a poignard." 

In Kabyle, says Letourneau, women are "still 
in the lowest stage of slavery. They are even in- 

2 "The Evolution of Marriage," p. 145. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 279 

ferior to the Arabs, although the latter have pre- 
served, almost unchanged, the polygamic regime 
of the old Islamite and even pre-Islamite ages." 

By way of contrast we must glance for a mo- 
ment at the monogamous Touaregs of the Sahara 
desert. These nomads are nominally Moslems; 
but their women enjoy a remarkably high status. 
They have liberty of action, own their property, 
give their names to their children, and marry at 
their own discretion. The women are better edu- 
cated than the men. These people have an idea 
of romantic love. "They strongly remind us," 
writes Letourneau, "of the times of our southern 
troubadours, and of the cours d'amour which were 
the quintessence of chivalry." 

III. MOHAMMEDAN NEGROES 

The creed of Islam spread from the northern to 
the western regions of Africa amongst peoples 
who already practised polygamy. No doubt the 
sanction for plural marriage appealed to negro 
converts, and to this day Christian missionaries 
have had to contend with the Moslem faith. The 
chiefs of various primitive tribes embraced Mo- 
hammedanism with enthusiasm, and the Moslem 
missionaries won great influence over them. 

Almami, king of the Bondou territory, offered 



28o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

hospitality to the explorer Mungo Park 3 ; and al- 
lowed him to converse with the women of his 
seraglio. "They were ten or twelve in number, 
most of them young and handsome, and wearing on 
their heads ornaments of gold and beads of amber." 
Park flattered the swarthy beauties, who informed 
him that "honey mouth" was not appreciated in 
their country. They were very anxious that the 
traveller should bleed them for their petty ail- 
ments, as they believed him to be an eminent doc- 
tor. 

Mungo Park states that the Mohammedan ne- 
groes treat their wives considerately, and are bet- 
ter husbands than the Moors. They are almost 
free from jealousy. The women are permitted 
to take a share in public diversions. They are not 
given to intrigue, though their social intercourse 
with the other sex is frank and cheerful. This 
writer found very little marital infidelity in the 
interior of Africa. 

Quarrelsome wives were sometimes corrected by 
their husbands by light chastisement. But the 
wife in a harem could seek redress if her husband 
ill-treated her, or neglected her for another wife. 

3 Op. cit. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

CHINESE MARRIAGE AND POLYGYNY 

IN primitive times sexual promiscuity seems to 
have been widely existent in China until one of the 
Emperors enjoined legal marriage. Children 
took the names of their mothers. Freedom in the 
choice of a husband was apparently general, and 
to-day such power of selection on the part of 
daughters exists among the aboriginal tribes. 1 In 
modern days the son is directed in his choice of a 
wife by the father, who is the despotic head of the 
family. No son can refuse the wife proposed for 
him by the parent. 

As a result of this custom, "in many cases the be- 
trothed couple scarcely know each other before 
marriage, the wedding being the first occasion on 
which the man catches a glimpse of his wife's 
face." 2 Not only do the fathers exercise this un- 
limited authority in the matrimonial affairs of 
sons. After the decease of the father, a son's mar- 
riage is arranged by his elder relations. He is 
never a free agent in the selection of a bride. 

1 Westermarck. Op. cit. 

2 Westermarck, Ibid. 

281 



282 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Celibacy is very rare, and the majority of the 
population marry about the age of puberty. The 
necessity for marriage is taught, and the single life 
is held to be contrary to nature and almost a sin. 
Marriages are arranged by purchase; the father 
of the bridegroom gives a sum of money to the 
bride's parents. This amount is not described as 
purchase money, but as a "gift," which is evidence 
that the selling of daughters in wedlock is becom- 
ing repugnant to the upper class Chinamen. 

Polygyny is the practice of the wealthy; the ma- 
jority of the Chinese are monogamous. The 
labouring men seldom have more than one woman. 
Only one wife is allowed by law, but apparently 
there is no restriction to the number of mistresses. 
The concubine is in every sense the subordinate of 
the legal wife. If the concubine resides in the 
house of her owner, her children are considered 
legitimate, and must be provided for by the father. 

Chinese chastity is restricted practically to 
women. There are stringent regulations for the 
preservation of sexual purity, such as that forbid- 
ding the clothes of men and women to hang from 
the same peg. 

Divorce is readily granted to men who are dis- 
satisfied with their wives, and the grounds are in 
some cases quite trivial. Nevertheless, divorce is 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 283 

not common. The divorced woman loses caste in 
the community, and often sinks into degradation. 
The law does not entirely neglect woman in the 
matter of divorce; for if a wife finds that it is 
impossible to live peacefully with her husband r 
she may obtain a separation with his consent. 

The Chinese conception of love differs from the 
ideal of the Western people, and from that of In- 
dia. Women are sought and admired for their 
physical attractions and their domestic qualifica- 
tions. That is, perhaps, as much as can be said. 
Male jealousy and the sense of ownership is very 
strong in China, and women labour under rigor- 
ous social restraints. They may show their fea- 
tures, but they must not display their distorted feet. 
The ideal of the home is patriarchal — the father 
rules with an uncontested authority. 

Oliver Goldsmith, who was a diligent investi- 
gator of Oriental manners and customs, seems to 
have closely studied the Chinese. In "The Citi- 
zen of the World" the learned Chinaman dis- 
courses frequently upon the position of his coun- 
trywomen, and compares it with the status of Eng- 
lishwomen. He maintains that love is only un- 
derstood in China. 

"Let us only consider with what ease it was 
formerly extinguished in Rome, and with what 



284 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

difficulty it was lately revived in Europe; it 
seemed to stop for ages, and at last fought its way 
among us, through tilts, tournaments, dragons, 
and all the dreams of chivalry. The rest of the 
world, China only excepted, are, and have ever 
been, utter strangers to its delights and advan- 
tages. " 

Recognising that a Chinese lover is compelled 
to accept the bride discovered for him by his 
father, it is rather difficult to credit the assertion 
that I have italicised in the foregoing passage. 
Love, like morality, is determined by climate and 
racial temperament. The Chinese ideal of con- 
jugality would repel a Western woman, and our 
standard would have the same effect upon a 
woman of China. 

A young English beau, conversing with Gold- 
smith's philosophic Chinaman, says that "the 
Asiatic beauties are the most convenient women 
alive, for they have no souls; positively there is 
nothing in nature I should like so much as ladies 
without souls; soul here is the utter ruin of half 
the sex." 

Such flippant pronouncements often contain 
some elements of sound truth. English women 
have tended to exalt unduly the "spiritual" equal- 
ity of their love, and have too often essayed to re- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 285 

fine away the substance. A Chinese woman would 
not appreciate the ethereal, sentimental attitude 
towards the passion of the sexes. Yet she would 
understand the art of retaining her husband's affec- 
tion and rendering wedded life peaceful. 

The Chinese sage corrects the young English- 
man. He insists that the Oriental idea of w.omen 
is much higher than his friend has been led to be- 
lieve. "With respect to soul," he says, "the 
Asiatics are much kinder to the fair sex than you 
imagine: instead of one soul, F-ohi, the idol of 
China, gives every woman three; the Brahmins 
give them fifteen; and even Mahomet himself no- 
where excludes the sex from Paradise. Abulfeda 
reports that an old woman one day importuning 
him to know what she ought to do in order to gain 
Paradise — 'My good lady,' answered the Prophet, 
'old women never get there.' 'What! never get to 
Paradise?' returned the matron, in a fury. 
'Never,' says he, 'for they always grow young by 
the way.' Now, sir," continued I, "the men of 
Asia behave with more deference to the sex than 
you seem to imagine." 

The women of China are taller than their 
Japanese neighbours. Their skin is sallow and 
but little pigmented. The cheekbones are high; 
the nose broad and rather flat. A great point of 



286 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

beauty is the eye. The lips should be thin and the 
ears large. The outer corners of the eyes must 
droop, giving the eye-aperture a crooked appear- 
ance. From infancy the feet are cramped by the 
use of tight bandages, and the feet of women are 
scarcely bigger than those of little children. The 
deformed foot gives an awkward gait, but this is 
admired in China. Nature 'has given Chinese 
women small feet, but they are not satisfied unless 
the feet are diminutive. 

Unlike most Asiatic people, the Chinese have 
no taste for dancing. They regard the amuse- 
ment as absurd, and refuse to recognise dancing as 
one of the arts. Music is cultivated. The people 
recognise the moral value of music, and its strong 
appeal to human emotions was set forth in the writ- 
ings of Confucius. 

The kiss, which plays such an important part 
in Western love-making, is an elaborate ritual 
among the Chinese, who, however, regard our 
kissing habits as "odious, suggesting voracious can- 
nibals." 3 In China the lips are not applied to 
the face of the beloved person, but the nose instead, 
and the breath is drawn through the nostrils. 
Kissing is not practised in Japan. 

3 Havelock Ellis, "Sexual Selection in Man." 





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A CHINESE BEAUTY 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 287 

Mercenary traffic between the sexes exists in 
China, and children are sometimes brought up to 
the trade. Such occupation is often the lot of 
young widows, who are not allowed to remarry. 
On the whole, the courtesans in China have a much 
lower status than the geishas of Japan. The evil 
results of the system are palpable here as in other 
parts of the civilised world. There are houses of 
evil repute in all the large towns. The women are 
much addicted to opium smoking. Letourneau 
says that in Cochin-China no infamy attaches to 
this life. 

The position of the women of China may be de- 
scribed as one of complete subjection to masculine 
domination. In this typical patriarchal society 
woman has little or no personal liberty. The 
daughter is considered a very inferior being to the 
son. In the most important affair in her whole 
existence, a Chinese woman is at the behest of her 
male kindred. Often her marriage is arranged 
while she is an infant. "The bride," says a Chi- 
nese author, "ought only to be a shadow and an 
echo in the house. The married woman eats 
neither with her husband nor with her male chil- 
dren ; she waits at table in silence, lights the pipes, 
must be content with the coarsest food, and has not 



288 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

even the right to touch what her son leaves." 4 

There is, however, some clemency regarding the 
offence of infidelity in China. The law in this 
matter is not so severe as that of the Koran, though, 
as we have seen, it is difficult to prove adultery in 
Moslem countries. A guilty Chinese woman 
can be dismissed by her husband, or sold by 
him. 

A practice resembling the Hindu Sati survives 
in China. It is an honourable deed for a widow 
to commit suicide, especially if she has no family. 
This act of self-immolation has been performed in 
public. 

China is the land of fathers. The desire for 
male offspring is intense, and this desire no doubt 
gave rise to the concubinate. If the wife bore only 
daughters, or was sterile, the husband felt im- 
pelled to take another woman, a "lesser wife," in 
the hope that she would bear a son. 

This preference for male children, which is of 
the very essence of the paternal family, seems to 
militate always and everywhere against the con- 
dition of women in the community or the race. 
China is polygamous chiefly because it is patriar- 
chal, and only in a secondary sense is plurality in 

4 Quoted by Letourneau from Hue's "Empire Chinois." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 289 

mates attributable to men's love of variety and the 
force of passion. 

There are, however, a few signs that point to a 
lessening of masculine despotism. Young Chinese 
men come to England to study for the professions. 
The influence of the West infects them. I have 
met Chinese students, with the British "university 
manner" and intonation in speech, who, except for 
their features, might be taken for English under- 
graduates. These young men are the nucleus of a 
New China group. They are well-cultured and 
have progressive ideals, and the feminist move- 
ment in Europe causes them to reflect on the posi- 
tion of the women of China. 

The question of the education of women, for 
so long almost unknown in China, is now receiving 
considerable attention. In a book, lately pub- 
lished, entitled "The Face of China," the author, 
Mr. E. G. Kemp, says that new schools for girls 
are being built in many districts, and not only in 
the cities, but in the villages. There is a scarcity 
of competent teachers, but the importance of edu- 
cating girls is now very clearly recognised. 

Education is compulsory for both sexes in the 
Chinese Empire. The public schools are under 
the control of the State. Remarkable progress is 



2 9 o WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

reported among the female pupils, who are in- 
nately intelligent and apt to learn. In the village 
schools the girls are taught reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, singing, physical exercises, and sew- 
ing. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

WESTERN POLYGYNY 

The religion, laws, and customs of the West for- 
bid plural marriage. Monogamy is the only 
recognised and permissible state of wedlock in the 
greater part of Europe, and in all the advanced 
civilisations of the American continent. Mormon 
polygamy is practised in spite of the law of the 
United States. There is no other conventional 
form of polygamous union in the highly-civilised 
Western societies. 

As we have seen in our survey of Eastern polyg- 
amy, there is always a general tendency towards 
monogamy, and single marriage is the custom of 
the great majority of Turks, Arabs, Egyptians, 
Hindus, Burmese, and Persians. Among the 
Christian Latin, Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon races, 
where permanent monogamous marriage is the 
only religious and legally-sanctioned union, there 
is a bias on the part of a large number of the popu- 
lation towards polygynous practices. 

Polygamy is severely interdicted, and in most 
communities punished; but the sexual association 
of men with more than one woman, or plurality, 

291 



292 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

has never been wholly suppressed by religion or 
law. 1 

The restless and inconstant passions of men and 
women break the conventional fetters, and the phe- 
nomena of pseudo-polygamy and pseudo-poly- 
andry are manifest in every civilised state. This 
fact demonstrates that, deeply-rooted in the breasts 
of a vast number of Western people, dwells a pow T - 
erful desire for variety in love. The Church has 
striven by suasion, and by threats and penances, to 
suppress this vagrant human impulse. 

Nothing could be plainer than the Christian 
teaching upon the sin of unchastity. Apostles, 
Fathers, Bishops, and Popes have denounced in- 
constancy in the state of wedlock. Cruel punish- 
ments have been inflicted upon the unchaste and 
the adulterous, from social ostracism to death it- 
self. But a host of men and women rebel against 
the mandate of indissoluble religious and licit mar- 
riage, and defy the law of the Church and the pub- 
lic opinion of the orthodox. 

There is no doubt that the earlier Christian 

1 In Rome Arcadius prohibited plural marriage A.D. 393. 
Charles V. made it a capital offence. By a statute of James I., 
1603, polygamy was rendered a felony. Concubinage was still 
recognized by law in the Sixteenth Century in Ireland. King 
Diarmid had two legitimate wives and two concubines. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 293 

teachers were much perplexed by the errant de- 
sires of their converts and disciples. Polygamy 
had a strong hold upon the Jewish inhabitants of 
Palestine and the Eastern alien proselytes. It was 
impossible to extirpate so ancient a practice in a 
few years. The polygamy of David and Solomon 
could always be quoted as sanctioned by Jehovah. 
Most of the accredited Hebrew lawmakers and 
pious scribes had permitted plural marriage and 
concubinage. Rachel did not prevent Jacob's 
association with the handmaidens Bilhah and 
Zilpah, an instance of the Eastern solicitude for 
the begetting of sons. 

Esau had three wives. Gideon had "many 
wives" and "three score and ten sons." In the 
time of Moses, women taken in warfare became 
the wives, concubines, or slaves of their captors. 

Maimon, the Jewish historian, states that a man 
might possess as many wives as he could afford to 
maintain. So general, therefore, was the custom 
of polygamy that the early Christians were con- 
fronted with a very formidable social problem. 
As a matter of fact, plural marriage, even though 
it was considered an offence, was not wholly abol- 
ished for many centuries after the time of St. Paul. 
Its occurrence was regular in most parts of Eu- 
rope. In the Sixth Century, according to the 



294 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

tribunal of Narbonne, a man married to several 
women was compelled to do penance, but this en- 
actment did not suppress the system of plurality 
of wives. 

Luther, when approached by Philip of Hesse- 
Cassel, gave a hearing to his plea for permission to 
marry a second wife while cohabiting with the 
first. A council was called, and they decided that, 
as the Gospels do not distinctly command monog- 
amous marriage, and that as more than one wife 
was allowed in the days of the Patriarchs of 
Israel, the plea should be granted. 

In the Hellenic and Roman civilisations there 
were instances of plural marriage. Polygamy 
was, however, very rare among the Greeks, and 
some writers have ascribed to this fact the com- 
paratively high status of women in ancient Greece. 
Certainly the Greeks had forsaken plurality in 
marriage at a period when the custom flourished 
among the Jews. The Romans also enforced mo- 
nogamy, and in the early days of Rome divorce 
was unknown. 

Sir Henry Maine is of the opinion that Roman 
women enjoyed far greater liberty than the women 
of the Hebrew race, and that the canon law of the 
Church brought about numerous sexual inequali- 
ties. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 295 

Until 1060 A.D. there was no authoritative man- 
date of the Church against polygamy. 2 Even 
after this prohibition there were instances of 
polygamic marriage and of concubinage in Chris- 
tian communities. 

The restraints upon the sex passion among the 
Greeks and Romans had their reaction in the 
orgies associated with sacred festivals. These car- 
nivals became licentious, and fell into disrepute 
in the period of decadence in both nations. Out 
of the orgy arose that other form of reaction known 
in all advanced nations as prostitution. When we 
speak in England of "secret" polygamy we misuse 
a term signifying sanctioned plural conjugality. 
There is no legal polygamy in Great Britain, but 
there is, biologically speaking, a constant practice 
of polygyny. The polygynous man may be de- 
scribed as one who is not content with one mate 
at a time. He is not constant in his desires. 

"The social evil" flourishes chiefly where there 
is the strictest insistence on permanent monogamic 
marriage. We, as monogamists, are bound to ac- 
cept this too-evident fact. Before English reli- 
gious reformers attempted to dispel the creeds and 
the customs of India, there was practically no 
bartering of the sexes in the form which we know 



2 « 



The Religion of Women," Joseph MacCabe. 



296 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

only too well. Quite involuntarily, the mission- 
aries have, by the condemnation of Eastern prac- 
tice in marriage and extra-matrimonial associa- 
tion, fostered an evil that was previously unknown. 
This is especially the case in Burma. 

The European literature treating upon prostitu- 
tion is very comprehensive, and it is not necessary 
for me to refer at length to the subject. But it is 
most important that we should recognise the ex- 
treme facility offered for the indulgence of men's 
tendency to variety by the provision of a huge class 
of outcast women in monogamous countries. 

The institution was condemned by Mahommed. 
It was banned in ancient Persia, India, and 
Burma. The Persian "Zendavesta" denounced 
the practice in the plainest terms. For the origin 
of modern systematic, commercial "white slavery" 
we must look to the West. Condemned by reli- 
gion, by most social reformers, and often inhibited 
by law, the courtesan still thrives among all the 
Western races. 

The species of polygyny in the West approach- 
ing more closely to the permissible polygamic 
marriage of the East is the intimacy of married 
men with mistresses or lovers. Such association is 
of a more constant character than that of the 
ephemeral traffic with the demi-mondaine. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 297 

"The double establishment/' "the left-handed 
marriage," the "morganatic marriage" are terms 
applied to the cohabitation that we incorrectly 
label as Western "polygamy." There is actually 
very little hindrance in all parts of Europe and 
America to the indulgence of men's polygynous 
propensity. The responsibility is far less here in 
England than in Mohammedan countries. Al- 
though religious ethics clearly forbid such plural 
intimacies, it is well known that scoiety condones 
the men who engage in them, while the woman is 
generally condemned. 

It is true that all men — if the testimony of the 
subjects themselves is to be accepted — are not natu- 
rally inclined to plurality in sex partnerships. 
There is no reason to question the admissions of a 
large number of men that their instincts are wholly 
monogamous. These are the natural, the typical, 
monogamic lovers. I have interrogated very 
many of my sex on this subject. The bulk have 
replied that the impulse for variety in sexual re- 
lations has assailed them from time to time, and 
even after marriage of esteem and affection; but 
the dictates of conscience, the counsels of discre- 
tion, the inconveniences of clandestine intrigues, or 
other considerations have restrained them. 

A fairly large proportion of men confess freely 



298 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

that, from the ethical and the social points of view, 
lifelong fidelity to one woman is a lofty ideal. 
But nature, they add, has not shaped them for the 
restraints of monogamic wedlock. They admit 
that they can love more than one woman at the 
same time, and that they give way to their 
polygynous obsessions. 

Statistics in such social phenomena are, of 
course, quite impossible. Western polygyny is 
mostly secret. But any man who has observed 
life in his own country and abroad knows how ex- 
tremely prevalent is the practice of irregularity, 
or, as Professor Iwan Bloch terms it, "wild 
love." 3 William Cobbett noted the tendency of 
most men to rebel secretly against the limitations 
of conjugality. 4 The dramas of the Elizabethan 
age and the novels of the Eighteenth Century teem 
with allusions to men's wandering fancy in love. 

The Puritans strove to suppress all forms of ex- 
tramarital association of the sexes by the punish- 
ment of imprisonment for convicted offenders. 
Adultery on the part of a wife incurred the capital 
sentence. 

There is little need to insist upon the frequency 

3 "Sexual Life of our Times." 
4 "Advice to Young Men." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 299 

of legal marriage with super-added "free love." 
Every medical man of fairly wide experience 
knows perfectly well that many persons of both 
sexes exhibit the polygynous instinct. We may 
grant that monogamy is the highest and best form 
of sex-union ; but what are we to say of that pseudo- 
monogamy which is so common in all the West- 
ern lands? 

In a sermon, preached in New York on the sub- 
ject of marriage, the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst said: "I 
do not know how many unfaithful wives and hus- 
bands there are in this city, but I calculate there 
might be a quarter of a million. I would not at 
any rate of premium issue an insurance policy for 
more than five years on any couple's conju- 
gal felicity, unless on the contingency of off- 
spring." 

A number of pressmen interviewed the preacher, 
and to them he remarked, "I have not made the 
statement without careful observation. The sub- 
ject for months has had my careful scrutiny, and 
I have found the condition of affairs to be ab- 
solutely damnable." 

In Russia, Tolstoy said that "out of a hundred 
men there is hardly one who has not been mar- 
ried before, and out of fifty hardly one who has 
not made up his mind to deceive his wife." 



3 oo WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Other writers have referred to the prevalence 
of "wild love" in Russia. 

Max Nordau, from his observations of German 
life, asserted that men are "naturally polygamous," 
and endorsed the well-known dictum of Schopen- 
hauer. 

In France the proportion of marriages between 
bachelors from eighteen to forty years and women 
of fifty and beyond that age is ten times greater 
than in England. 5 Such unions are the result of 
the dower system — that turning of marriage into 
a "matter of arithmetic," which so often excludes 
love from the transaction. These marriages of 
young men, and men in their prime, to elderly 
women foster the custom of maintaining "amies" 
or mistresses. The frequency of irregular attach- 
ments in France is attributable in a large degree 
to the commercialisation of marriage. Union in 
wedlock for love alone is comparatively rare 
among the French. 

It may be asked whether the powerful psychic 
and physical attraction, which is the source of the 
highest form of love between the sexes, is usually 
perceptible in average marriage in the West. 
Most men and women unite in wedlock for a num- 
ber of reasons besides passion; and in this fact 

5 Letourneau. Op. cit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 301 

lies the cause of numerous cases of post-marital 
love affairs. The marriage of convenience, the 
decorous, cool-blooded alliance of two prudent 
persons, who affect to despise mere sentiment and 
passion, may prove tolerably successful. 

But often there comes an hour when one or the 
other experiences that profound and all-powerful 
emotion that is associated with a romantic love. 
Our divorce court cases give abundant proof that 
mercenary marriage, and unions entered into with- 
out absorbing affection on both sides, frequently 
end in tragedy. 

Romain Rolland says truly: "The majority of 
men have not vitality enough to give themselves 
wholly to any passion. They spare themselves 
and save their force with cowardly prudence." 

Ill-assorted marriages from which there is no 
reputable method of escape are a prolific source 
of Western polygamy. Most happily-married 
men are quite content under monogamy, in spite 
of the variability of male desire. But an enormous 
number of men, and of women also, live in con- 
tinual secret revolt against single marriage. 

It is dangerous to blind ourselves in this matter. 
Neither sanctioned polygamy, nor sanctioned mo- 
nogamy, are adapted to the emotional and pas- 
sional needs of the whole body of men and women 



302 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

of a race or a nation. There are discontented 
women, and probably men, in the polygamous so- 
cieties; but there is probably more dissatisfaction 
among both sexes living under indissoluble mono- 
gamic marriage. 

Polygyny is very ancient, and was always wide- 
spread in the West, though the moralists, theolog- 
ical and secular, have consistently condemned it 
for centuries. Among the kings of England, 
He l nry VIII. and Charles II. exhibited strong 
polygynous instincts. T. H. Jesse, "Memoirs of 
the Court of England," writes that George I. 
"had the folly and wickedness to encumber him- 
self with a seraglio." Thackeray, in "The Four 
Georges," refers frequently to the royal mistresses. 
Monarchs and nobles throughout the whole of 
Europe, and in all ages, have imitated Eastern 
polygamy by the maintenance of court mistresses 
and paramours. This precedent made plural love 
a fashionable and popular custom among the af- 
fluent. Schopenhauer boldly affirmed that we, 
all of us, for some time at least, live in polygamy; 
and historians refer frequently to polygynous prac- 
tices. 

Referring to Western polygyny, and comparing 
it to Eastern polygamy, Alison writes: "In none 
of these respects, perhaps, is it (polygamy) so pow- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 303 

erful an instrument of corruption as the female 
profligacy and promiscuous concubinage, which, 
comparatively cheap in its acquisition, and there- 
fore pervading all ranks, is felt as so consuming 
an evil in all the great cities of Western Europe." 

Tacitus alludes to the polygyny of the ancient 
Germans. The practice was known fairly widely 
in Russia, Norway, and Sweden in early times, 
and it still exists. Long after the conversion of 
Europe to Christianity the maintenance of con- 
cubines was a common custom. Hallam notes 
concubinage in parts of Europe; and that it was 
not entirely confined to the laity is proved by Lea 
in his instructive "History of Sacerdotal Celib- 
acy." 

It has been the unwritten law of most Western 
countries that sovereigns and princes shall be al- 
lowed to indulge in polygamy. Anyone only 
superficially acquainted with the histories of the 
courts of Europe can point to a number of in- 
stances. 

When polygamy is interdicted men endeavour 
to mitigate the restrictions of monogamous mar- 
riage by sex intimacy with two or more women, 
one being the recognised and lawful wife. The 
irksomeness of monogamy drives a certain num- 
ber of men to plural sexual associations. Wes- 



3o 4 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

termarck admits that polygyny is often the result 
of legal monogamy. A number of writers have 
declared that prostitution is inseparable from the 
system of monogamous marriage. Do we not find 
that in the countries where polygamy is allowed 
by religion and law monogamy is the general rule, 
and that the bartering of sex-love by courtesans 
is uncommon? The courtesan of the polygamous 
nations finds her chief support from the foreigner 
of monogamous nations. It is, therefore, not the 
sanction that promotes invariably the frequency of 
the practice of polygyny. 

Human nature is perverse. Men of the West 
invented single marriage, but they have in large 
numbers always rebelled secretly against its in- 
hibitions and limitations. Theological morality 
declared that men and women must marry for 
life, or abstain entirely from any kind of sexual 
union. And the severity of the ordinance of wed- 
lock has defeated its end. 

Roman Catholic absolutism in matrimonial mat- 
ters rendered divorce impossible. Once married, 
always married, and for good or ill. Protestant- 
ism recognised that such a decree was arbitrary, 
and legal separation and divorce were provided 
for by the law. Slowly, but inevitably, the links 
of the chain of wedlock have been loosened, and 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 305 

the new divorce measures show a wider apprecia- 
tion of human needs. The enforced fettering of 
the unfortunately married will be one day re- 
garded as a relic of a barbarous age. Until then 
indissoluble marriage will continue to be one of 
the sources of polygyny in Europe and America. 

Another cause of polygyny, especially in Great 
Britain, is to be sought in the preponderance of 
women in the population. The surplus of mar- 
riageable women who remain single is often over- 
stated. Nevertheless, there is an immense army 
of compulsory celibate women. Certain city areas 
are inhabited chiefly by unmarried women. Such 
a phenomenon utterly bewilders the intelligent 
Eastern visitor. He asks, reasonably enough, 
how we reconcile the boast of our advanced and 
humane civilisation with the fact that tens of thou- 
sands of our women are deprived of the primary 
rights of love, marriage, and the reproduction of 
offspring. 

This multitude of spinsters might be cited as 
evidence that polygyny is not common in England. 
Unfortunately, it proves nothing of the kind. 
What it proves is that marriage is becoming less 
popular among both sexes; that the number of 
men is disproportionate to the number of women, 
and that men find a substitute for matrimony 



3o6 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 



in polygyny, and more especially in prostitution. 

Dr. Johnson, in spite of his stern piety, recog- 
nised fully that inconstancy is a common masculine 
failing. He had no clemency for the unfaithful- 
ness of wives. When Boswell told the Doctor 
that a friend, in an argument with a lady, had de- 
clared that conjugal infidelity was "by no means 
so bad in the husband as in the wife," Johnson 
said: "Your friend was in the right, sir," adding, 
"Wise married women don't trouble themselves 
about infidelity in their husbands." 

Many men and women of genius have displayed 
an aptitude for polygyny, but probably not in a 
greater degree than less gifted persons. The 
amours of the ordinary man are not recorded, as 
in the case of the man of genius. Moore, in his 
"Life of Byron," states that all the greatest artists 
and poets have been "either strangers or rebels to 
domestic ties." If constant susceptibility to love 
is a mark of the pofygynous impulse, as it would 
seem to be, then poets from Ovid to Byron and 
Burns undoubtedly instance that impulse. 

Musicians are notably prone to inconstancy in 
love, as their biographers show. 6 All creative 
artists are intensely attuned to the sense of beauty, 

6 Beethoven declared that one of his loves, which lasted seven 
months, was unusual for its duration. 



. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 307 

and this hypersensitiveness, coupled with the viril- 
ity that so often accompanies strong intellectual 
power, induces amorous preoccupation. Goethe, 
Heine, and Schiller were born amorists. Rous- 
seau was fickle. It is hardly necessary to add to 
the list of great men who have manifested the 
capacity for loving several women in succession, 
and not infrequently more than one at the same 
time. 

The masculine bias for plural love must not, 
however, be over-estimated. There are, without 
question, men of the Western races to whom the 
bare idea of cohabitation, or casual sexual associa- 
tion, with more than one woman is supremely re- 
pugnant. Where monogamy is slowly taking the 
place of polygamy, we notice that men seek a com- 
pensation by forming a succession of single unions. 
This is the case among the Arabs, Moors, and 
Malays of to-day. Such a substitute for polyg- 
amous marriage is not repellent to a number of 
Europeans, and as a practice it is commoner than 
association with more than one woman at the same 
time. The latter form of irregularity is especially 
odious to a fair proportion of Western men, who 
may be classed biologically as monogamic by in- 
stinct. 



3 o8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Convention and public opinion, though often 
lax in the case of man's variability, are still a deter- 
rent influence. Religion also serves as a restraint 
upon minds swayed by beliefs and theological 
precepts. Often, no doubt, the innately polygyn- 
ous man is hindered from indulging his propensity 
by reasoned ethical and social considerations. 

Nevertheless, it is useless to pretend that the 
practices of unrecognised polygyny and "wild 
love" are purely Eastern, or confined entirely to 
primitive races. As George Meredith said, most 
Englishmen have not yet "rounded Cape Turk." 
Chastity is apparent, but to what degree is it act- 
ual? 

Lucy Garnett, in "The Women of Turkey," is 
explicit in her comparison of our sexual morality 
and that of the Turks : — 

"Monogamy has in Christendom been a conven- 
S tional fiction rather than a social fact. And 
Christianity, having denied to women all rights 
in sexual relations except under the sanction of in- 
dissoluble monogamous marriage, the social evil 
has in no civilisation whatever been so hideous in 
its degradation and misery as in Christendom." 



CHAPTER XXIX 

MORMON POLYGAMY 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, 
or Mormons, are a remarkable sect, numbering 
at the present time about 220,000 adherents. 
Mormonism was the inspiration of a lad of fifteen, 
Joseph Smith, of Sharon, Vermont, who, at that 
critical period of adolescence, began to dream and 
to receive revelations. One day Smith was visited 
by "the angel Moroni," who told him that a new 
Bible was hidden near the town of Manchester. 
Some years after this alleged revelation, the young 
mystic went in search of the buried scriptures, and 
again an angel appeared and gave to him a num- 
ber of their gold plates, enclosed in a stone case. 

These plates were said to be inscribed with the 
tenets of the new gospel, written in a form of 
the Egyptian language, and decipherable by means 
of a pair of magic spectacles. Joseph Smith, who 
was almost illiterate, was assisted by two men, 
named Cowdery and Harris, in the interpretation 
of the celebrated "Book of Mormon." The trio 
of discoverers swore to the reality of the plates; 
but they were never shown to the converts, and in 

309 



3 io WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

a short time the documents vanished and were 
never traced. 

The credulity of the disciples of Joseph Smith 
may appear amazing. But the average human 
mind is curiously susceptible to the hypnotism of 
a positive personality, and there is no doubt that 
Smith possessed a compelling force, a supreme 
self-confidence, and the diplomacy of a born 
leader. He was, however, an insignificant light 
compared with his successor, Brigham Young, 
who raised Mormonism to the dignity of a vital 
faith swaying many thousands of minds. 

Joseph Smith had several important revelations. 
He was instructed to start a bank, and he issued 
a number of bogus notes. This fraud enraged the 
"Gentiles," and led to an assault upon the prophet. 
Smith's influence was still further weakened by 
his licentious practices, which estranged some of 
his converts. The original "Book of Mormon" 
had not counselled plural marriage; but Joseph 
Smith had a new inspiration, and he began to teach 
polygamy as part of the creed of Mormonism. 
Setting an example to his followers, Smith lived 
with several women besides his legal wife. 

The open teaching of polygamous marriage was 
an illegal offence. Joseph Smith was called to 
justice, but his community defended him against 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 311 

the officers of the law, and a serious conflict was 
prevented by his surrender to stand for trial. 
While Smith and a coreligionist were awaiting 
trial, a mob broke into the gaol and shot the two 
men. The new leader was the notorious Brigham 
Young, a mechanic, who was already a prominent 
figure in the sect. Young was a great organiser, 
a fluent and persuasive speaker, and extremely 
tactful and astute. He died worth several hun- 
dred thousand pounds. He had seventeen wives 
and over fifty children. To Amelia, his favourite 
wife, he left property and a handsome legacy, and 
all his wives were well provided for on his de- 
cease. Under the autocratic and, in some respects, 
wise rule of Brigham Young, the Latterday Saints 
grew into one of the finest communities of agri- 
culturists and artisans that the modern world has 
seen. The early Mormons sent out missionaries 
into all parts of the globe. In Great Britain they 
secured many converts. There are now eighty- 
two Mormon churches in the United Kingdom. 
Settlers came from Germany, France, and other 
European countries, and a flourishing settlement 
was established in Utah. Young elected himself 
governor of the state, in spite of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. A force was sent against the Mormons, 
led by an official governor appointed by the United 



3 i2 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

States legislation. But the Mormons stoutly re- 
sisted the intervention. 

A stronger force was sent to Utah. Fighting 
and bloodshed lasted for about two years, until the 
Mormons were constrained to acknowledge the 
Federal authority. Peace reigned for a time. 
But the Government were determined to suppress 
Mormon polygamy. Young was seized and in- 
dicted with the teaching and illegal practice of 
plural marriage. Various enactments were di- 
rected from time to time against polygamy, and it 
was stated that the custom was waning. But this 
form of marriage survived the attacks of the cen- 
tral government. It is now said to have fallen 
into disrepute among the Mormons themselves, but 
it is not entirely unknown in the society. 

As the Mormon community affords the only in- 
stance of polygamy, sanctioned by religion, among 
Western civilised peoples, it is useful to inquire 
into the effects of this sex relationship. Soon 
after the institution of the creed of Mormonism, 
the "saints" claimed that they had banished the 
evils of seduction, infanticide, and prostitution, so 
common among their "Gentile" neighbours. 
They also solved the problem of compulsory celib- 
acy of women. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 313 

I am informed by a friend who has lately spent 
some time in Salt Lake City that prostitution is 
not quite unknown. This may be a result of the 
decay of polygamy. 

A seceder, General J. C. Bennett, wrote a very 
strong indictment of the charlatanry of Joe Smith. 
Bennett appears to have joined the sect with the 
intention of learning their secrets and exposing 
them. 1 He declared that men and women lived 
in sexual promiscuity in Utah. Another hostile 
critic was John D. Lee, who firmly believed that 
polygamy was an admirable institution, although 
he left the sect. In "Mormonism Unveiled," Lee 
states that the prophet Smith preached plural mar- 
riage privately after a revelation in 1843. Lee 
confesses that he had several wives, nineteen in all, 
who bore him sixty-four children. 

Brigham Young was more explicit than Joseph 
Smith in the teaching of polygamy. In the pub- 
lication "Times and Seasons," he made this declar- 
ation: "And I would say, as no man can be perfect 
without the woman, so no woman can be perfect 
without a man to lead her. I tell you the truth 
as it is in the bosom of eternity; and I say to every 
man upon the face of the earth, if he wishes to be 

1 "Story of the Mormons," Linn. 



3H WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 






saved, he cannot be saved without a woman by his 
side. This is spiritual wifeism, that is the doc- 
trine of spiritual wives." 

Biblical sanction, even in the teaching of Jesus 
Christ, was discovered by the promulgators of 
polygamous unions. 2 W. A. Linn says that most 
of the Mormon leaders had more wives than one, 
and that the wives had separate apartments al- 
lotted to them, as in Oriental countries. Horace 
Greeley, in his "Overland Journey," states: "The 
degradation (or, if you please, the restriction) of 
woman to the single office of child-bearing and 
its accessories is an inevitable consequence of the 
system here paramount. I have not observed a 
sign in the streets, an advertisement in the jour- 
nals, of this Mormon metropolis, whereby a woman 
proposes to do anything whatever. No Mor- 
mon has ever cited to me his wife's or any woman's 
opinion on any subject; no Mormon woman has 
been introduced or spoken to me; and though I 
have been asked to visit Mormons in their houses, 
no one has spoken of his wife (or wives) desiring 
to see me, or his desiring me to make her (or their) 
acquaintance, or voluntarily indicated the exist- 
ence of such a being or beings." 

Mr. Roger Pocock, the well-known author and 

2 Op. cit. Linn. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 315 

traveller, who has twice visited Salt Lake City, 
tells me that the inhabitants seem to prosper 
greatly, and that the prohibition of the sale of 
alcoholic drinks may account in a measure for the 
general social well-being. There is, however, a 
lack of joyousness in the community. The people 
are sober, dour, and persistently industrious. Mr. 
Pocock found a more genial atmosphere among 
the "Gentile" settlers on the outskirts of Utah, 
where there is less commercial and industrial 
activity, but more zest of life. The Mormons are 
temperamentally akin to the Boers; they resemble 
them in their manner of life. A sombre form of 
religiosity pervades the society. 

Mormon women, in the view of my informant, 
are very imperfectly educated. Their level of in- 
telligence is low; they seem like overgrown chil- 
dren, and have no conversational aptitude. This 
deficiency in education may be due in part to the 
inferior status that polygamy often imposes upon 
women. But Mormonism is scarcely an intellect- 
ual creed, and its tenets do not appeal to women 
of strong intellect. 

Women have, however, proved ardent converts 
to the Mormon faith, and enthusiastic upholders 
of the system of polygamous marriage. They 
have supported the creed with their money, and 



316 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

given themselves willingly as "spiritual wives." 
It has been said that Mormon polygamy finds its 
most zealous advocates among women, and that the 
practice of plural wedlock has survived through 
their influence. 

The early missionaries, who scoured Europe for 
proselytes, inspired a large number of women with 
ardour for the new gospel. Wealthy women left 
home and kindred to join the settlers in their wil- 
derness, facing privation, and engaging in severe 
labour, with astonishing eagerness. Young and 
old women, married and single, threw in their lot 
with the followers of Joseph Smith and Brigham 
Young. 

Although Western women are usually opposed 
to polygamy, it is a remarkable fact that many 
women are attracted to those sects, such as the 
Mormons, the Princeites, and the Free Lovers, 
that teach heterodox sexual relationships as a 
salient part of their doctrine. Repugnance 
towards plural marriage is, no doubt, deep-rooted 
in the mass of women in Europe and the United 
States; but such repugnance is by no means uni- 
versal. 

A lady correspondent, who wrote to me lately 
on polygamy from the English woman's point of 
view, stated that there was something to be said 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 317 

for the practice. In her opinion, plural wedlock 
solved the great problem of the enforced celibacy 
for a large number of women, and mitigated to a 
very considerable extent the evils of prostitution, 
seduction and desertion, and infanticide. 

Judged as a pastoral and industrial community, 
the Mormons are a remarkably flourishing people. 
They have wrested a vast tract of infertile land, 
and cultivated it with painstaking and constant in- 
dustry. Their system of irrigation is one of the 
best in the world, and an object lesson for agricul- 
turists. 

There is but little crime in the community. In- 
temperance in drink is quite unknown. There is 
work for everyone, and adequate food and shelter 
for all. Many of the flagrant inequalities of city 
life are entirely absent. These benefits have been 
won in spite of persecution and repeated efforts 
at legislative suppression. 

The Mormon society is a curious survival of 
patriarchal rule. The system has its manifest dis- 
advantages for women, though some of the ills 
that accompany monogamous marriage are un- 
known. There is no doubt, however, that the bulk 
of women converted to Mormonism heartily ap- 
proved of polygamy and subordination to men. 
Had it been otherwise, the State of Utah could 



3 i8 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

not have prospered as it has since the founding of 
the colony. Mr. Linn says that the Mormon 
women of to-day are "the most earnest advocates of 
polygamous marriage." 

"Said one competent observer in Salt Lake City 
to me, 'As the women of the South, during the 
war, were the rankest rebels, so the women of Mor- 
mondom are to-day the most zealous advocates of 
polygamy.' " 3 

Undoubtedly, cases of jealousy on the part of 
older wives, neglected for young and new brides, 
have frequently arisen. On the other hand, the 
great majority of the female adherents of the Mor- 
mon religion assert that they have eliminated all 
trace of jealousy. 

A friend, Mr. E. Rouse, who knows Utah, tells 
me that during a visit in 1901 he was hospitably 
entertained by an elder, who spoke frankly and in- 
telligently upon the Mormon faith and practice. 

"Polygamy," said the elder, "is not practical 
amongst us more than in the proportion of one in 
fifty. It originated with Brigham Young's great 
desire to keep up and to increase the population 
of Utah. This was very necessary for resisting 
the Indian tribes that constantly threatened the 
community." 

3 A. W. Linn. Op. cit. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 319 

When asked whether plural wives quarrelled 
among one another, the preacher replied: "Not 
often. We have almost subdued jealousy. Our 
system of a separate house for each wife is an ex- 
cellent one. We do not coop all our women to- 
gether in one dwelling. Of course, the separate 
establishment plan is very expensive. Only the 
rich are able to indulge in spiritual wives. Such 
marriages are far too costly for the mass of our 
men." 

Mr. Rouse was impressed by the wealth of Salt 
Lake City, due chiefly to the immense store of 
mineral treasure in the surrounding mountains. 
Many of the houses in the richest thoroughfares of 
the city were built of rare and beautiful stone. 
The tabernacle is a vast building, with an oval 
dome, perfect in its acoustic quality, and the or- 
gan is a magnificent instrument. Mineral treas- 
ure, rather than agriculture, is the source of the 
prosperity of Utah. 

Benjamin G. Ferris, who visited Utah in 1854, 
said that polygamy was then practised by about 
one-fourth of the adult male population, and that 
the number of wives to each husband ranged from 
two to fifty. 4 The preachers had "the largest 
harems." This writer found much illness and 

4 "Utah and the Mormons." 



3 20 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

mortality among the young children of Salt Lake 
City. The children were unclean and seemed to 
be neglected. This was, however, denied by Sir 
Richard Burton. 

Ferris, who was an extremely hostile critic of 
Mormonism, stated that the elders of the Church 
often changed their wives for younger women. 
Elder Wilford Woodruff frequently practised 
this system of reconstructing the household. 

"In Utah the effect of the plurality system is 
most severely felt by the first or real wife," writes 
B. G. Ferris. He declares that polygamy was in- 
troduced originally to gratify the sensuality of 
Joseph Smith. The Mormon upholders of plural 
marriage declare that this is untrue. They assert 
that polygamy was taught as a part of Biblical 
morality, as a remedy for the celibacy of re- 
dundant women, and in order that every woman 
should exercise the right of maternity. The rela- 
tions of the sexes were strictly regulated in Salt 
Lake City under the rule of Brigham Young. 
Unchastity in the unmarried was punishable by 
a term of ten years in full, or six months at the 
least. Keepers of immoral houses were subject 
to a year's imprisonment, and sometimes to a heavy 
fine also. Publishers of improper literature 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 321 

could be fined four hundred dollars. Three years 
in gaol was the minimum term for adultery, and 
twenty years the maximum. 

Sir Richard Burton 5 closely investigated Mor- 
mon morals during his stay in Utah. He states 
that the attacks of Mr. Ferris and others upon the 
community are mainly unmerited and usually 
false. The "perpetual storm," in which "plural- 
ity-families" are said to live, is denied by Bur- 
ton, who says, "I believe that many a 'happy Eng- 
lish home' is far stormier, despite the holy pres- 
ence of monogamy." 

The children of Salt Lake City struck Sir 
Richard Burton as clean, healthy, well-cared-for 
and intelligent. Girls marry usually at about the 
age of sixteen, fifteen years earlier than the aver- 
age marrying age in England. 

Divorce is permitted to women for cruelty, de- 
sertion, or neglect on the part of the husband. 
Men in Utah rarely sue for divorce. 

"The Mormons point triumphantly to the aus- 
tere morals of their community, their superior 
freedom from maladive influences, and the ab- 
sence of that uncleanness and licentiousness which 
distinguish the cities of the civilised world. They 

5 "The City of the Saints." 



322 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

boast that if it be an evil they have at least chosen 
the lesser evil, that they practise openly as a vir- 
tue what others do secretly as a sin. . . ." 6 

Sir Richard Burton refers to the continence of 
the Mormon men, and compares it to the as- 
ceticism of some African tribes. 7 The tie of ro- 
mantic sentiment seemed less strong than in mar- 
riage in England; but Burton was impressed by 
the "household comfort, affection, circumspect 
friendship, and domestic discipline" of the Mor- 
mon polygamists. 

The Mormon woman's point of view regarding 
plural unions is especially instructive. Mrs. Be- 
linda M. Pratt, writing to a sister, gives her opin- 
ions frankly. She refers to the Old Testament 
sanctions for polygamy and the concubinate, and 
to the illustrious patriarchs who followed the prac- 
tice, and "did build the house of Israel." Quite 
truthfully, this apologist asserts that "polygamy is 
authorised and approved by the word of God." 
She commends the custom as an act of obedience 
to the divine injunction to increase and multiply 
and replenish the earth. 

6 Burton. Op. cit. 
7 "In point of mere morality," says Burton, "the Mormon 
community is perhaps purer than any other of equal numbers." 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 323 

"I have a good and virtuous husband, whom I 
love," writes Mrs. Pratt. "We have four little 
children, which are mutually and inexpressibly 
dear to us. And besides this my husband has seven 
other living wives, and one who has departed to 
a better world. He has in all upwards of twenty- 
five children. All these mothers and children 
are endeared to me by kindred ties, by mutual af- 
fection, by acquaintance and association; and the 
mothers in particular by mutual and long-contin- 
ued exercises of toil, patience, long-suffering, and 
sisterly kindness. 

"We all have our imperfections in this life, but 
I know that these are good and worthy women, 
and that my husband is a good and worthy man ; 
one who keeps the commandments of Jesus Christ, 
and presides in his family like an Abraham. He 
seeks to provide for them in all diligence; he loves 
them all, and seeks to comfort them and make them 
happy." 



CHAPTER XXX 

MONOGAMY AND POLYGYNY 

In this survey I have noted a present-day mono- 
gamic trend in the races of the East. The move- 
ment may not be widespread, nor readily recog- 
nisable in the more stationary nations practising 
polygamy, but it undoubtedly manifests itself 
among the newer Eastern spirits. 1 It would be 
rash to infer from this slight indication of chang- 
ing opinion that plural marriage will entirely dis- 
appear in the future. Perhaps we may assume 
that, with the spread of discontent among the cul- 
tured women of the East, polygamy will lessen 
very gradually. 

The polygynous impulse will scarcely wane and 
disappear in a few generations, even if we grant 
that it is likely to vanish altogether in the course 
of human evolution. None of the cultivated 
dominant nations of the world have up to the pres- 
ent lived down the instinct of polygyny. Slowly, 
through the influence of religion, the fear of penal- 

2 Mrs. Ethel Snowden ("The Feminist Movement") states 
that "the educated and advanced women of Turkey demand 
prohibition of polygamy, the right to choose a husband, and 
higher education. The freeing of Turkish women is only a 
matter of time." 

324 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 325 

ties, and economic inhibitions, plurality in wives 
or concubines ceased to be the recognised practice 
of the prosperous European races. But the ces- 
sation of sanctioned polygyny did not annihilate 
the custom. That which was open became clan- 
destine and furtive. 

Diminishing polygamous relationships in the 
East will not come about through the acceptation 
of the religious creeds of the West. The bias 
against polygamy is a phase of the Feminist Move- 
ment, which is invading every quarter of the civil- 
ised globe. This is not the mere agitation of a 
disenfranchised sex, but a tremendous, clamant up- 
rising of thoughtful women, aroused, after cen- 
turies of repression and inertia, to revolution and 
to the complete reconstruction of all social opin- 
ions, moral codes, and laws affecting their sex. In 
certain aspects, it is a strife for feminine suprem- 
acy. Undoubtedly, feminism is, in the main, a re- 
volt against the sexual domination of man. 

In these days of rapid and easy travel, there is 
a wide mingling of races. The West is beginning 
to learn some of the wisdom of the East, and the 
Orient is losing some of its conservatism. Far- 
reaching changes in the East and the West, through 
international intercourse, are likely to occur in 
the near future. 



326 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

The Europeanized Hindu and Mohammedan, 
cultured, observant, and well-travelled, begins to 
reflect whether the zenana and the harem offer 
after all the best environment for women. A 
passion for education, for deeper human experi- 
ences, and for wider social scope has already fired 
the bosoms of Turkish, Hindu, and Japanese 
women. The Oriental Women's Movement will 
be resisted by patriarchal autocracy, as the parent 
movement in the West has been combated by men. 
But it is inevitable that the resistance will be worn 
down; for there is no plainer sign in human evolu- 
tion at the present time than the advance of 
women. 

The tendency to ascendancy among the ener- 
getic, educated women of the West has led to con- 
siderable speculation as to what will happen if 
women become supreme in social rule. There is 
no question that an important proportion of ad- 
vanced women are inclined to criticise the exist- 
ing form of legal sex relationships. During the 
past fifty years indissoluble monogamous marriage 
has been dissected and assailed. I am not inclined 
to predict a popular campaign in favour of polyg- 
amy, under the advocacy of European women. 
The forceful independent-thinking woman, always 
mindful of her "rights," and jealous of her posi- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 327 

tion in the home, is not the type of reformer likely 
to applaud polygamous marriage. 

As a purely speculative statement, though one 
not without a groundwork of evidence, it might 
be said that a form of recognised polyandry, rather 
than polygamy, may possibly one day be practised 
in the West, side by side with monogamous mar- 
riage. It is a significant fact that the perdomi- 
nant sex tends to exhibit the plurality impulse. 
The militarist patriarch obtains, by purchase or 
warfare, as many. mates as he can afford to keep. 
A rich man in the East impresses his neighbours 
and demonstrates his social importance by the 
maintenance of a costly harem. 

We have seen in our investigation that the 
seraglio is sometimes a symbol of a ruler's might, 
and that the potentate is forced to maintain such 
a show of affluence in order to keep up his author- 
ity. In like manner, the influential Nair woman 
maintains her sway by the possession of several 
husbands. Wherever polyandry prevails, on the 
testimony of many travellers, women occupy an 
exalted position in the community. 

In the West, dominant, masterful women have 
often displayed their power over men by what may 
be described as the polyandrous aptitude. Cath- 
erine of Russia is a well-known instance, and there 



328 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

is a fairly long list of highly-gifted women who 
have shown a capacity for loving several men in 
succession, and even more than one at the same 
time. 

In the West, the relations of the sexes are in 
a curiously chaotic state. Monogamous wedlock 
is only one form of sexual association. A. E. 
Crawley, in his article on "Chastity," in "The 
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics," says very 
truly that "at least 50 per cent, of the sexual inter- 
course that occurs in Western nations is outside the 
bonds of wedlock." 

"The Churches do not help to solve the problem 
by preaching total abstinence and encouraging 
scientific ignorance; their attitude is part of the 
conventional sexual morality of the time. They 
can aid in the scientific rehabilitation of a natural 
chastity only by joining hands with science. 
Western science to-day has begun their work by 
a thorough study of the sexual impulse, and im- 
portant pioneering has been effected in the educa- 
tion of the intelligent upon these subjects and in 
the development of eugenic research." 2 

It is fairly certain that sexual promiscuity never 
prevailed among primitive people to the extent 
that it prevails in the most highly-civilised nations 

2 Op. cit. A. E. Crawley. 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 329 

of to-day. Prostitution, as we have seen, is one 
of the evils rarely apparent among polygamic na- 
tions. 

Enforced celibacy for a host of normal women, 
with the normal woman's desire for the love and 
companionship of man, together with thwarted 
maternal yearnings, form one of the grave prob- v 
lems of Western civilised countries. It has been 
said that the higher civilisation simply spells celib- 
acy for a vast number of women. 

I recall an afternoon when I sat at the open 
window of a flat in London, in conversation with 
a cultured Hindu. 

"Probably you think, like most Englishmen, 
that polygamy is an evil," said my friend. He 
stretched his hand towards the vista of countless 
houses. 

"In this suburb alone," he remarked, "you have 
several thousand marriageable single women in 
excess of men. Is that an evil, or not? In India 
we cannot understand this anomaly. At the same 
time, you have a vast, degraded class of women 
in your White Slave Traffic." 

Sir Richard Burton, who spent many years of 
his life among polygamous peoples, was never 
denunciatory concerning plural marriage. On 
the other hand, it would seem that he regarded it 



330 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

as suited to the racial needs of the East. Yet 
the monogamic trend in Turkey is an indication 
that the people of that country are beginning to 
outgrow the polygamic bias. Probably religious- 
ly-sanctioned and legally-permissible polygamy 
may disappear in the course of social evolution in 
the East. 

Such a disappearance of polygamous marriage 
would probably be followed by a long period of 
polygyny. History is wont to repeat itself. 
When Christianity attacked the ancient practice 
of Hebrew plural marriage, polygyny lingered for 
centuries. 

Lea, in his "History of Sacerdotal Celibacy," 
says that the chronicles of Christianity in the Mid- 
dle Ages are "full of the evidences that indiscrim- 
inate license of the worst kind prevailed through- 
out every rank of the hierarchy." Prelates used to 
levy taxes upon priests for keeping concubines. 

While polygamy favours male supremacy, and 
provides for the wandering amative impulses of 
men, in its Oriental form the practice militates 
against woman's influence in many of the wider 
interests of social life. It is the wastage of a high- 
ly valuable social force that a large number of 
women should be segregated and immured in 
harems. Under polyandry men are content to be 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 331 

shared as husbands, chiefly because the polyan- 
drous wife has never insisted that her spouses shall 
be kept behind bolt and bar. Polygamous hus- 
bands have rarely, if ever, allowed such freedom 
to their partners. 

The harem implies for women seclusion from 
the world. It is in a sense like the nunnery. The 
tendency of modern civilisation is towards a freer 
social intermingling of the two sexes, and this is 
one of the healthiest signs of the times. The West 
has practically declared for full sexual equality. 
No doubt women will lose some of their traditional 
privileges in the process of equalisation; but they 
will gain infinitely in mental and moral develop- 
ment. The State that neglects to use the potential- 
ities of its women, and regards them only as wives 
and the mothers of children, will assuredly lag 
behind in the march of nations. 

The life of the harem can have no attraction for 
the cultured woman whose aspirations are for free- 
dom of thought and conduct, and for the full de- 
velopment of her mind and character. To such 
a woman even the economic dependence of mono- 
gamic marriage is distasteful. Polygamy appeals 
only to those women who are content to forego all 
active participation in affairs beyond the sphere 
of the home. 



332 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

For the ease-loving woman, contented with nar- 
row interests, the seraglio offers an escape from 
the stress of life. To live as one of four wives, or 
as one of a hundred concubines, is repugnant to the 
sentiment of the bulk of women reared in the tradi- 
tions of Christendom. But this is not saying that 
polygamy is repellent to the whole mass of West- 
ern women. The fervent advocacy of plural mar- 
riage by female converts to Mormonism is suffi- 
cient evidence that such a form of the sex relation- 
ship attracts a fair number of European women. 
It must be remembered that in sex matters there 
is a great diversity of feeling and emotion. 
Women are not all of one temperament. There 
are many signs that an increasing number of women 
are dissatisfied with the conventional standards 
regulating the relations of the sexes. 

It is not wholly improbable that the harem will 
slowly disappear with the advance of education 
among the women of the East. Discontent is a 
concomitant of education. The "disenchanted" 
in the Turkish seraglios are in instance. The 
seclusion, the dependence, and the narrow environ- 
ment of harem life are the causes of the disenchant- 
ment. An aversion to plural marriage per se 
may possibly increase among Oriental women. 
But the root of the dissatisfaction is in the re- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 333 

pressed and monotonous life behind the walls of 
the harem rather than in ethical objections to 
polygamy. 

It has been said that though women may exhibit 
an innate bias for monogamy, they have been the 
accessories of polygamy whenever it suited their 
purpose. For example, polygamy has seemed the 
only rational solution of the problem of an excess 
of women in certain tribes and at different stages. 
Such disproportion in the sexes has threatened the 
community with celibacy and infertility, the two 
evils universally dreaded and avoided by primi- 
tive people. Under such conditions any inhibi- 
tion of polygamous marriage would be regarded 
as disastrous to the tribe. Had they the knowl- 
edge, the primitive group would declare with 
Cicero that virtue is but nature carried out to the 
utmost. 

Monogamy, naturally evolved, and not as it is 
shaped and controlled by religious beliefs, is now 
acknowledged in our own country as the highest 
form of love union. "It is not the legal or reli- 
gious formality which sanctifies marriage," writes 
Havelock Ellis, "it is the reality of the marriage V 
which sanctifies the form." The cardinal virtue 
of monogamic marriage is its claim that the be- 
trothed pair are irresistibly drawn to one another 



334 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

by affection. That love and passion are often ab- 
sent, and that marriage is entered into for a variety 
of social and material reasons, is perfectly true. 
But the monogamic ideal is the expression of a 
genuine sentiment of love between men and 
women. 

Courtship under the monogamous system of mar- 
riage is the prelude to union. During this period 
the man and the woman have each at least the op- 
portunity for ascertaining their lover's salient vir- 
tues, foibles, and defects of character, and this pro- 
bation often prepares the way for pacific matri- 
mony. No such period of wooing is permissible 
under the Eastern system of purchase, or arranged, 
marriage. In most instances the contracting per- 
sons are strangers to one another; and in some cases 
they do not even see each other's faces until the 
nuptial day. The risks of psychic incompatibil- 
ity, and of physiological maladaption are at all 
events lessened when a period of wooing is per- 
mitted. 

In polygamous unions courtship begins with 
wedlock. Two strangers unite in the closest of 
human intimacies. To the Western mind this 
practice cuts at the very roots of the ideal of roman- 
tic affection. We are, however, assured by highly 
intelligent observers that the system of post-marital 



. . WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 335 

courtship has fewer risks of disaster than we 
imagine. 

Courtship before mating is the universal rule 
among the higher animals. It is a natural process 
of selection, with a very definite aim. Wooing, 
love-play, and the exercise of choice would seem 
to be as natural for men as for animals. Polyg- 
amy as generally practised in the East appears con- 
trary to the general law of Nature, in so far as it 
dispenses with preliminary courtship. 

What chance of selection has a Georgian girl 
of fifteen sold into harem marriage? Virtually 
she is a serf, though her serfdom may not be irk- 
some. In any case, the human right of freedom 
of choice of a sexual partner is wholly repudiated, 
and she is merely a purchased woman, or human 
chattel. 

The thousand devices of Nature for the free play 
of the selective will in the matings of animals seem 
a convincing argument against any form of human 
marriage that negatives this free play. The idyl- 
lic courtship of birds foreshadows the passionate, 
romantic wooing of human beings. 3 Even among 
the polygamous mammals and among birds there 
is love-making in both sexes as an introduction to 
physical mating. 

3 See "The Courtship of Animals," W. P. Pyecraft. 



336 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

The cramping of feminine intelligence is one 
of the gravest defects of the harem form of poly- 
gamic marriage. The harem stands for a sign of 
that aggressive, anti-social affluence that the most 
thoughtful minds all the world over regard as 
anomalous and evil. It is, in a measure, a symbol 
of vulgar ostentation. Unrestricted polygyny 
leads to the inequality exampled in Dahomey, 
where the king possessed thousands of wives, and 
his chiefs hundreds, while the ill-paid soldier 
could not maintain even one woman. 

It is a menace of the power of wealth that a rich 
man's money should enable him to fill his harem 
with a multitude of women, while great masses of 
the population earn barely sufficient to provide for 
one wife and her children. It is a low ideal of 
woman's vocation that urges a Circassian mother 
to sell her daughter to the lord of a seraglio. The 
harem system favours such forms of female para- 
sitism. 

The ancient civilisation most favourable to the 
equality of the sexes gave the woman proprietary 
rights, liberty in the choice of a husband, and op- 
portunity for sharing in the counsels of the nation. 
Such is the ideal of the spirit of modern feminism. 
An ever-growing number of women of the West- 
ern civilisations condemn the economic depend- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 337 

ence of their sex. Olive Schreiner explicitly 
warns women that parasitism results in female 
degradation. Mrs. Ethel Snowden urges that, so 
far as possible, every woman should be self-sup- 
porting. This insistence upon the economic free- 
ing of women is based upon an appreciation of the 
status of the sex in the period of mother-right. 
In America over five million women earn a liveli- t^ 
hood without dependence upon men. Japan has 
a large population of industrial women. The en- 
trance of women into almost every field of employ- 
ment has its menace; but the long age is nearing 
the end during which women had no trade but 
marriage. 

Wider knowledge for women is the rock upon 
which the system will ultimately wreck itself. 
This is not stating that polygyny will disappear 
entirely in civilised nations. Sexual variation has 
always existed, and there is no reason to believe 
that one stable, rigid form of erotic relationship 
will ever obtain. But the spread of the revolu- 
tionary influence of culture, a perfectly natural 
process, will cause a steady reduction of the harems 
of the East. 

Although men scarcely realise the fact, women 
in civilised communities are the predominant con- 
trollers of the sex relations. If women in Eng- 



338 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

land elected to live either in polygamy or in poly- 
andry men would be forced sooner or later to ac- 
cept the condition. The "mate-hunger" of the 
y male renders him, to a large extent, the servitor, 
and often the dupe of the female. A sex-strike 
among the greater mass of Western women would 
overthrow the supposed male supremacy in a few 
weeks, and lead to a complete reconstruction of 
ethical and social views regarding love and mar- 
riage. 

Another inevitable concomitant of the harem 
system is jealousy. This passion is common 
enough in monogamous conjugality. But it is even 
more likely to show itself, in its basest forms, 
among a number of women equally anxious to win 
the favour of a common spouse. The seraglio is 
often the scene of bitter envies, quarrels, plots, 
and sometimes of crimes arising from this source. 
No doubt the women of polygamous countries are 
taught to subjugate the instinct of jealousy. A 
really jealous woman would find harem life un- 
bearable. But even the defenders of plural mar- 
riage do not all assert that jealousy is absent. 

The glaring contrast that Western polygyny af- 
fords to Eastern polygyny is in the fact that our 
variety is without obligations. The Oriental con- 
cubine, mistress, or secondary wife, has her clearly- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 339 

defined status and legal rights. Among us the 
mistress loses caste, and has practically no rights 
whatever, while her children are punished by a 
cruel outlawry. 

As Havelock Ellis very truly remarks: "By 
enabling a man to escape so easily from the obli- 
gations of his polygamous relationships, we en- 
courage him, if he is unscrupulous, to enter into 
them; we place a premium on the immorality that 
we loftily condemn." It is equally true that "in 
no part of the world is polygyny so prevalent as in 
Christendom." 

Chaotic promiscuity, "wild love," and prostitu- 
tion flourish under our pseudo-monogamic system. 
It is easier to live licentiously in the West than in 
the East, and we should face the fact frankly. 
Lecky, in "The History of European Morals," 
boldly asserts that while monogamy of a perma- 
nent character is the normal and prevalent form 
of conjugality, it is idle to pretend that this type 
of union is adapted to the needs of a whole race. 
Even such a distinguished Christian cleric as 
Charles Kingsley declared that: "There will never 
be a good world for women until the last remnant 
of the Canon law is civilised off the earth." 4 

4 See section "Marriage," Havelock Ellis Op. ciU, Vol. VI., 
for reflections upon Western polygyny. 



V 



? 



340 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Polygyny, whether sanctioned or unrecognised, 
has always accompanied monogamy. Dr, John- 
son admitted the variety impulse, and condoned it 
in his own sex, stating that a wise wife would not 
pry into the amours of her husband. Under rec- 
ognition by the law the concubine in mediaeval 
Europe was often raised to the dignity of the wife, 
and she might even be indicted with infidelity. I 
have referred to the "legitimate concubine" in 
Thirteenth Century England. Other facts prov- 
ing an English sanction for the maintenance of 
second wives or mistresses may be found in Smith 
and Cheetham's "Dictionary of Christian Antiq- 
uities," and in Lea's "History of Sacerdotal Celib- 
acy." 

The legal recognition of plural sex unions was 
gradually relaxed and finally withdrawn, with the 
result that, as usual, the woman suffered. She 
was no longer protected by law or social opinion; 
she became a socially inferior citizen, usually re- 
garded with extreme hostility by her own sex. 
And so has the mistress remained, possessing only 
a status among the unconventional members of so- 
ciety. 

With the tightening of the bonds of permanent 
marriage came an increase of the pariah class of 
women, variously estimated in this country to num- 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 341 

ber from a hundred to two hundred thousand. Is 
not this of itself sufficient evidence that the 
polygynous instinct is not readily eradicated? 

A Puritan writer, in 1658, stirred by the spec- 
tacle of sexual profligacy, asked whether it would 
not be better to allow polygamy. 5 

There has been serious recommendation of 
polygamy by more recent English humanists. 
James Hinton, a surgeon, and the author of the 
well-known essay "The Mystery of Pain," de- 
clared that it would be better to admit and recog- 
nise polygamy in England than to pretend that we 
are strictly monogamous. Hinton, an extremely 
earnest-minded man of unassailable morality, 
spoke and wrote boldly upon the subject of sex. 
He held that a furtive, hypocritical polygyny was 
far more disastrous than recognised polygamic 
marriage could ever become. 6 In the United 
States the Rev. J. H. Noyes preached the doctrine 
of "omnigamy," which might be explained as co- 
existing polygamy and polyandry. The teaching 
was carried into practice by the Free Love com- 
munity, established at Oneida Creek. Since then 
the doctrine has spread among a fair number of 
the countries of the West. 

5 "A Remedy for Uncleanness," by "A Person of Quality." 

6 For a summary of Hinton's ethical beliefs see "Three 
Modern Seers," by Edith Ellis. 



342 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

Dr. George Brandes, in his "Impressions of 
Russia," refers to the sexual freedom of the cul- 
tured classes in that country, and says that this 
principle has passed out of the region of discus- 
sion into full recognition. But this freedom is not 
that form to which we are accustomed in England. 
It has its serious obligations among a nation where 
the intelligentia look upon the love of the sexes 
"as a holy thing." 

The born-amorists, the Don Juans of the race, 
with their marked polygynic tendencies, form an 
order sundered by physical and psychic differences 
from the more contained and parental types. 
Among the historic amorists are a great number 
of most distinguished and exceptionally gifted 
men and women. But the paternal man and the 
maternal woman, the less erotic type common in 
all the Northern and Western nations, are, prob- 
ably, the best types for the propagation of the race. 

Both classes have their marked limitations as 
well as their finer endowments. The born-fathers 
and mothers of the race are instinctively mono- 
gamic. Love may besiege their bosoms with irre- 
sistible sway in the early days of marriage, but 
with the begetting and rearing of children come 
that intense solicitude for the well-being of off- 
spring and profound parental affection which 



WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 343 

overpower all errant desires. When passion sub- 
sides they remain tender companions, serenely con- 
tent with family love. 

These are the solid bulwark of the monogamic 
society. No polygynous impulses, no vehement 
passions, assail and distract them. They are the 
devoted progenitors of the species. 

Monogamy grows out of polygyny whenever 
and wherever the ideal of close personal attach- 
ment between the sexes satisfies the emotional and 
physiological needs of the race. In the West the 
conception of romantic love is associated with de- 
votion to, and lasting affection for, one member 
of the opposite sex. This conception of mono- 
gamic marriage for the whole life of the united 
pair arose very early from the instinct of races in 
the course of evolution, though the strict observ- 
ance of monogamy has rarely been general in the 
monogamic nations. 

Religious and ethical precepts and stern legisla- 
tion have played their part in the enforcement of 
monogamic sex relationships among individuals 
of the community predisposed to polygyny. But 
a great number of men and women need no such 
counsels and deterrents. They have an innate 
bias to single marriage, and in that state they find 
their highest ideal of connubial happiness. 



344 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

No far-seeing student of the sexual history of 
mankind can predict a total extirpation of the 
polygynic impulse, even though polygamous mar- 
riage may be doomed. 7 The Western marriage 
customs, like everything else, have undergone 
numerous changes and modifications through the 
ages of culture. At the present time the demand 
for greater facility for practical dissolution of mar- 
riage is one of the indications of dissatisfaction 
with the inevitability of indissoluble wedlock. 

Marriage has always taken the form demanded 
by the mass of the people. Like all things human, 
the form has never been so perfectly adapted to 
the passions, predilections, and variational im- 
pulses of the race as to banish all discontent. 

We live, indeed, only in the infancy of the finer 
ideals of sex-love. Lofty, poetic, and moral ap- 
preciation of the greatest dynamic of life is de- 
veloping through an awakening consciousness that 
upon a recognition of the full significance of sex 
and its manifold phenomena depends, to an almost 
inconceivable extent, the progress of the race. To 
a few minds have come beautiful foreshadowings 
of a nobler estimate of love, potent to overcome 
the evil and the misery that spring more often 
from low ideals and ignorance than from deprav- 
ity of heart. 

7 According to Starcke op. cit. polygamy will disappear. 



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345 



346 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

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348 WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY 

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INDEX 



INDEX 



Abyssinians in Harems, 21a 
Adultery, 22, 31-32, 3 8 > 242, 288, 

298 et seq. 
AH Ameer, 120 
Alison, 302 
Anderun, 232 et seq. 
Animals, Polygamy among, 2, 3, 

14 

Afghans, 246 et seq. 

Monogamy see 
Arabians, 9, 33 115, 180, 211 et 

seq., 279, 307 
Arabs, Beauty of Women, 180- 

182 
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 81 
Atkinson, 226 
Australian Natives, 10 
Avesta Code, 240 
Ayesha, wife of Mohammed, 192 

B 

Babylon, 16, 21 
Baker, Sir S., 217 
Barakatullah, M., 115, 120 
Baroda, Maharani of, 109 
Barrenness, 52, 101, 103 
Bathing, 34, 35, 222 
Bennett, Gen., 313 
Bedouins, 198, an, 215, 217 
Berbers, 265 
Bird, Miss, 238, 239 
Bloch, Iwan, 125, 298 
Brandes, Dr. G., 34a 
Buddhists, 58, 121, 229 
Burckhardt, 21a 



Burns, 306 

Burton, Sir R., 214, 265-266, 321, 

322, 329 
Byron, Lord, 306 



Cairo, 172, 199, 205, 207 
Carey, W., Founder of Zenana 

Mission, 131 
Catherine of Russia, 327 
Ceylon, 61, 73 

Chastity, 38, 44, 59, 70, 282, 292 
and the Churches, 328 
Mormons, 322 
Child Marriage, 103 et seq. 

Women, 282 et seq., 287-290 
Chinese, 8, 281 et seq. 
Christian Polygamy, 43, 292, 295, 

303, 330, 339 
Circassians, 137, 147, 177, 186, 

187, 194, 214 
Cobbett, William, 298 
Coomaraswamy, A., 54 et seq., 

96, 98, 103, 230 
Concubines, 3, 5, 8, 24, 33, 121, 

192, 218, 234, 240, 267, 292, 

332, 338 
Constantinople, 152, 154, 158 
Courtship, Human, 334 

of Animals, 335 
Craven, Lady, 156 
Crawley, A. E., 328 

D 

Dahomey, 336 
David, King, 43, 293 
Rhys, 59 



353 



354 



INDEX 



Diodorus, 22 

Divatia, K. B., Mrs., 109 

Divorce, Burma, 83, 123 

China, 282 

Japan, 258 

Jewish, 47 

Morocco, 268 
Dodd, Anna Bowman, 137, 149, 158 
Dubois, 108 footnote 
Duncan, S. J., 181 



Edwards, Chilperic, 23 

Ellis, Havelock, 69, 221, 286, 339 

El-Sett Budar, 183 

Elwin, Father, 63 

Esquimaux, 7 

Eunuchs, 146, 178, 193 et seq., 

207, 273 
Exner, A., 263 



Gray, J. A., 246, 248 
Greeks, Polygamy among, 294 
Greeley, Horace, 314 
Griffin, Sir L., 118 
Griffith Hume, M. E., 237 

H 

Hala, Maxims of, 71, 72, 188 
Halid, H., 155 
Hamilton, A., 249 
Hammurabi Code, 17, 22-24 
Hartland, E. S., 102 
Hashish, 191 
Heine, 307 

Herodotus, 16, 17, 18, 19, 184 
Hindus, 48 et seq., 201, 229 
Hinton, James, 4, 341 
Houris, 37 
Hue, 288 



Farrer, R. T., 257 
Feminism, Burma, 122, 129 

England, 324, 325, 331 

India, 54, 67 

Japan, 262, 263, 337 

Turkey, 67, 158, 160 et seq., 
166-170, 324-326 
Ferris, B. G., 319 
Fielding, H., 127-129 
Freer, A. Goodrich, 47 
Fraser, Foster, 256, 267, 268, 269 
Frazer, Prof., 20 



Gallichan, W. M., 242 footnote 
Garnett, Mrs., 143, 159, 164, 216, 

308 
Geishas, 256-257 
Georgians, 186, 206, 208 
Ghose, Nand Lai, in, 112 
Goethe as Amorist, 307 
Goldsmith, Oliver, 283, 284 



Iroquois, 6 



Japan, 250 et seq., 287, 337 

Education in, 251, 255, 261, 262 
Love in, 259 

Jats, 75 

Jerusalem, Polygamy in, 47 

Jesse, T. H., 302 

Jewish Polygamy, 42 et seq., 293 

Johnson, Dr., 306, 340 

Jones, Sir W., 69 

K 

Kabyles, 269 
Kakuzo, O., 263 
Kama-Sutra, 201 
Kemp, E. G., 289 
Kingsley, Charles, 339 
Kissing in China, 286 
Koran, 30, 115, 160, 161, 288 
Kuenen and Kalisch, 45 



INDEX 



355 



Landor, W. S., 220, 225, 237, 243 

Lane, E. W., 36, 183 

Lea, H. C, 330, 340 

Lecky, Historian, 35, 339 

Lee, John D., 313 

Letourneau, 212, 213, 240, 257, 

278, 300 
Linn, W. A., 314, 318 
Livingstone, 15 
Loti, Pierre, 168-170 
Lott, Emmeline, 171, 209 
Lory, E. de, 242-244 
Love, Oriental, 58, 62, 64 et sea., 

148, 190, 201, 229, 230, 283 
Luther, 43, 294 

M 

Maimon, Historian, 293 

Maine, Sir H., 294 

Mang 'anja Tribe, 275 

Manu Code, 56, 91, 98, 100 

MacCabe, J., 295 

Maternal Power, 7, 89, 281 

Meredith, George, 308 

Mohammed, 29-32, 115, 160, 161, 
189, 191, 212, 242, 285 

Mohammedans, 1, 47, 115 et seq., 
132, 163, 189, 198, 210, 217, 
229, 246, 249, 270, 279, 297 

Monogamy, 2, 145, 146, 156, 204, 
213, 229, 247, 279, 282, 291, 
297, 301, 304, 307, 308, 324 
et seq., 328, 333, 339. 343 

Moore, T., 306 

Moors, 265, 307 

Mormons, 309 et seq. 

Muir, Sir William, 32 

Mut'ah Marriage, 212, 241 

Mylitta, 19-20 

N 

Naidu, Mrs., 97 

Nairs, Power of Women, 61, 327 



Naruse, Jingo, 263 

Nelson, J. H., 134 

Nineveh, 16 

Noble, Margaret, 50 et seq., 64, 

74, 98, 108, 230 
Nordau, Max, 300 
Noyes, Father, Founder of Free 

Lovers, 341 
Nubian Girls, 183 

O 

Okuma, Count, 259, 260 
Omnigamy, 341 



Palgrave, 218 

Park, Mungo, 270, 280 

Parkhurst, Dr., 299 

Parsees, 48, 60 

Pears, Sir E., 148, 158, 164, 165 

Persians, 182, 219 et seq. 

Phallic Worship, 44, 87 

Fhipson, Mrs., 106 

Pinkerton, T., 213, 216 

Pocock, Roger, 314, 315 

Poona, 63 

Polyandry, 3, 13, 61, 327, 330, 

338 > 
Prostitution, 44, 157-158, 230, 

240, 256, 287, 295, 329 
Punjab, 72 
Puritans, 5, 298 
Pyecraft, W. P., 335 



Q 

Queen Semiramis, 17 



Rajput Chivalry, 62 
Rawlinson, Col., 16 
Reclus, E. W., 60 
Regal Polygamy, 302 
Rigveda, 78 



356 



INDEX 



Rodin, 73 
Rolland, R., 301 
Roscoe, T., 267 
Rouse, E., 318, 319 
Rousseau's Inconstancy, 307 
Routledge, J., 81 



Sale of Women, 9-10, 18, 25, 42, 

177-178, 203, 282 
Sarasvati, Pundita, 98 
Sati, 54 et seq., 288 
Schiller, 307 
Schlegel, 3 
Schopenhauer, 1 
Schreiner, Olive, 337 
Sheldon, F., Mrs., 272, 273, 274, 

275 
Sladen, Douglas, 242-244, 252, 

256 m 
Soma-lis in Harems, 233 
Smith and Cheetham, 340 
Smith, J., Mormon, 309 
Smith, R., 212 
Snowden, Ethel, 324, 337 
Solomon, 45-46, 65, 293 
Sonnini, 216 
Spencer, Herbert, 240 
Starcke, 13, 14, 344 
Strabo, 151 

Stead, A., 264 footnote 
Steel, Mrs., 50, 74 et seq. 
Sultan of Turkey, 139 et seq. 
Sultana of Turkey, 139 
Sunna Code, 33 
Syrian Women, 177 



Tacitus, 303 

Tagore, R., 67-68, 229 

Teheran, 232 



Thackeray, 148, 181, 191, 302 
Todas Tribe, 62 
Toon Chan, Mrs., 123 
Touaregs of Sahara, 279 
Tsuda, Miss, 258 
Tunis, 270 

Turkish Women, Independence 
of, 149 
Modesty of, 150, 151 



U 



Upanishads, 95 
Utah, see Mormans 



Veiling the Face, 185, 203 
Vishnu, Code of, 92-95 

W 

Warburton, 40 
Wa-Taveta Tribe, 273 
Werner, A., 275, 276 
Westermarck, 228, 268, 281, 304 
Wheeler, J. M., 45 
Wills, C. J., 220, 223, 225, 233, 
237 



Xavier, St. Francis, 261 



Yao Tribe, 277-278 
Young, Brigham, 310, 311, 313, 
320 



Zanzibar, 272 

Zenana, 50, 66, 72, 80 et seq., 

119, 131 et seq. 
Zendavesta, 296 
Zoroaster, 60 



3477-3 



